Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, up until this month recognized by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, was formed as the result of the merger of al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, and other extremist groups committed to a “popular jihad.”
HTS, which in recent years tried to rehab its public image, led the Turkish-backed Islamic militants who seized the Syrian capital of Damascus in December and ultimately overthrew the Assad regime — a regime change made possible with the help of the Obama CIA and the Pentagon.
Despite the HTS’ murderous history and threats to the existence of Syria’s Christians, Alawites, and Druze, Western neocons celebrated the replacement of Bashar al-Assad as president with HTS leader Muhammad al-Jawlani, who now goes by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.
‘The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians.’
The Washington Post’s foreign policy columnist Josh Rogin, for instance, wrote, “Syria is free. The rebels won. The people liberated themselves from tyranny.” Trump critic Bill Kristol wrote, “The fall of a brutal dictator is rare enough that we should take the opportunity to celebrate it, and pay tribute to those who brought it about.” Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) expressed hope in December that under the new terrorist leadership, Syria would “be a tolerant society accepting of people from all religious confessions.”
Recent massacres, bombings, rapes, and kidnappings committed by al-Sharaa’s forces, friends, and fellow travelers have provided strong indications that such celebrations were premature.
A source who routinely travels to Syria and who has been in recent contact with people in the country has shared with Blaze News insights about life for Christians and other religious minorities under the new regime.
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The Syrian regime’s security forces roll into the Druze city of Suwayda on July 15. Photo by SAM HARIRI/AFP via Getty Image
“The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians and certainly dangerous for other religious minorities, with recent events in the governorate of Sweida tragically underscoring this reality,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous over security concerns. “On July 15, 2025, Sweida experienced a large-scale massacre resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”
Between July 13 and July 20, over 1,200 people were were killed in clashes between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans, which were aided by al-Sharaa’s forces, and Druze-linked militias in Syria’s southern Druze-majority Suwayda province, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
There have reportedly been numerous religiously-motivated assassinations across the country in the days since.
The source noted that “among those killed was a prominent pastor of the local evangelical church, along with his entire family.”
Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city “who had converted from another faith tradition, was known for his peaceful integration and for serving as a respected leader within both the church and the wider community,” added the source.
The SOHR indicated that members of al-Sharaa’s Ministry of Defense were responsible for the pastor’s slaying.
In response to the historic bloodletting, Blaze News’ source indicated that religious communities, including Orthodox and Catholic Christians, have opened their churches as a place of refuge, and “overcrowding is now common.”
“This recent crisis highlights both the persistent vulnerability of religious minorities in Syria and the profound challenges they face in the current political landscape. The urgent calls for international protection reflect a widespread sense of abandonment and a desire for tangible, effective action from the global community,” the source said.
Fr. Tony Boutros, a Melkite-Catholic priest in Suwayda who was among the Christian clergymen abducted by radicals in 2015, said in a recent video statement, “We ask the U.S., Europe, the Vatican, and the whole world for international protection for this region of Sweida, all of it, for us and for our Druze brothers, my dear ones. Look at the massacres that happened to us in Sweida.”
‘The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity.’
The source indicated that everyday life for Christians and other religious minorities in Syria can “appear relatively normal,” but such appearances are deceptive, as “underlying fear and uncertainty are constant realities.”
RELATED: New massacre, old problem: How Syria can protect its religious minorities
Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images
“Most recently, the bombing at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus on June 22, 2025, during a Sunday liturgy, resulted in at least 20 deaths and dozens injured — demonstrating how quickly violence can erupt even in seemingly safe spaces,” the source said. “In Sweida, the ‘Suwayda Massacre’ and other attacks have deepened a sense of vulnerability. Even where no violence is occurring, minorities remain wary, practicing their faith discreetly and living with a persistent sense of fragility, knowing that the situation can deteriorate suddenly and dramatically.”
While life under the terrorist regime remains precarious, the source indicated that family presently in Syria believe “the situation is much better than what it was during the previous regime,” although there is disagreement on this point.
“I used to say that nothing in the universe will be worse than the Assad regime. They were absolute monsters. However, if you ask someone from Sweida now, their answer would be different,” the source said.
When pressed on whether something has been neglected in other reports that readers should know about the situation in Syria, the source noted, “The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity.”
“Too often, reports paint Syria in black and white, but the reality is anything but simple,” the source continued. “The situation shifts from city to city, even from one household to the next. It changes every day. Any responsible reporting has to acknowledge just how nuanced things are and resist the urge to generalize. Oversimplifying only does a disservice to the real lived experiences on the ground.”
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