Al-Qaeda Affiliated Regime Massacre Druze and Christians

In the wake of the terrorist attack that claimed 25 lives at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in the Syrian capital of Damascus on June 22nd, reports confirm that the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) forces and affiliated groups are escalating their campaign of persecution and violence against Christians, Druze, and other ethnoreligious minorities.

Currently, the Druze towns are being attacked by Islamists, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, or Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the former head of the Syrian al-Qaeda, who conquered Damascus last December. 

The violence erupted in the predominantly Druze city in the province of Suwayda (also known as Sweida) on July 12, two days after a Druze merchant was reportedly abducted on the highway to Damascus. Suwayda is known for its Druze majority but also has a significant Christian population, primarily Greek Orthodox and some Catholic Christians.

It is the latest outbreak of deadly jihadist violence in the country since al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS forces—with the help of Turkey—overthrew Syria’s Assad regime.

Since then, Islamic violence conducted against the Druze, Alawites and Christians by HTS military units and affiliated militias has resulted in the deaths or enforced disappearances of hundreds of members of those minorities. Many were arrested and tortured. Several Alawite women have reportedly been abducted and abused as sex slaves by Sunni Muslims.

Islamists in Syria have since murdered or kidnapped Druze civilians, humiliated their spiritual leaders by cutting their beards and mustaches, and thrown their turbans on the ground like ISIS (Islamic State). A Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Marhaj Shaheen (80 years old), was subject to abuse at the hands of Islamists, who cut his beard on camera. 

In May, Druze citizens living in Syria sent a plea to the international community calling for help against attacks on the Druze community. The plea came shortly after the reported murder of Hussam Warwar, the mayor of the Druze community of Sahnaya, and his son. A statement published on X/Twitter by user MiraMedusa read.

Our young men are being arrested and tortured in ways that defy description. The abuse they’re enduring is brutal… beyond what any conscience can accept. The images we receive are too painful to share not out of fear, but out of respect for their dignity, which is being violated every day behind closed doors. But we can no longer remain silent.

Hakmat Al-Hajeri, the spiritual leader of Syria’s Druze community, issued a statement saying the community had lost trust in the new leadership.

We no longer trust the body that calls itself a government. We do not trust the presence of its people among us because they are nothing but machines of murder and kidnapping, distorting the facts, with a sectarian mindset that deems other sects as infidels..

According to several X accounts, during the ongoing attacks against the Druze, Islamists desecrated and burned the Church of Saint Michael in Suwayda.

After HTS forces took over Damascus in December, they urged the residents of the Valley of the Christians to surrender any weapons they kept for self-defense, telling them that civilians would not be harmed. Unarmed and defenseless, Syrian Christians have since been subjected to increased persecution.  

Ramzi Shalhoub, a Greek Orthodox Christian, was abducted by HTS forces on July 12. According to the X account Greco-Levantine Worldwide, he had “worked tirelessly for the safety of his neighborhood, Dwella—keeping thieves, bandits, and radicals at bay.”

On July 10, armed assailants in the city of Homs shot and murdered a Christian jeweler, George Ishua. Most goldsmiths in Syria are reported to be Christian, and they have faced severe harassment since al-Sharaa came to power.

According to Open Doors, an organization that monitors Christian persecution, there are around 500,000 Christians remaining in Syria. Most are of Greek descent and have lived there for thousands of years.  

Greek Christian X accounts from Syria are expressing the need for Christians to exercise their right to self-defense, which they say should be supported by Western governments. “How long will Syria’s Christians remain without a protector to stand behind them?” asked the X account Greco-Levantines WorldWide. 

How long will Syria’s Christians remain without a protector to stand behind them? From the funeral service of martyr Siham Ghanam, who passed away yesterday from injuries caused by the terrorist bombing of the Saint Elias Antiochian Greek Church pic.twitter.com/6U2cMDiqtw

— Greco-Levantines World Wide (@GrecoLevantines) July 7, 2025

“The only effective safeguard remains the presence and support of a local Greek security force bolstered by the European Union,” noted another X account, the Greco-Syrian Nation.

Eiad Herera, Spokesman of the Antiochian Greek Organization “A.G.O” told europeanconservative.com:

What Syrian Christians need from Greece right now is leadership. We urgently call on Greece, Cyprus, and all concerned nations to intervene immediately. Greece, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is in a position to raise this issue and help protect these threatened civilians. Most importantly, we need a stronger Greek presence in Syria, starting with opening Greek consulates or cultural offices inside key Christian areas and churches.

We are also calling on the EU to sanction al-Sharaa and his regime and stop whitewashing the al-Qaeda operatives in Syria who are hiding behind suits and ties.”

HTS’ leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani (al-Sharaa), has risen through the ranks of ISIS (Islamic State). In 2011, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then head of ISIS, sent al-Jolani into Syria. There, Jolani founded an al-Qaeda affiliate: Jabhat al-Nusra. HTS was, until recently, listed as a terrorist group by the US. Jolani had fought US troops in Iraq and was jailed by the Americans for several years. 

In 2017, HTS took over the Syrian province of Idlib, forcibly displacing, arresting and torturing thousands of locals. In 2020, the U.S. State Department reported:

“Armed terrorist groups, such as al-Qa’ida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), committed a wide range of abuses, including unlawful killings and kidnappings, unlawful detention, extreme physical abuse, deaths of civilians during attacks described by the UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria as indiscriminate, and forced evacuations from homes based on sectarian identity.”

In 2023, the U.S. State Department once again reported that HTS committed abuses against members of religious and ethnic minority groups, including the seizure of properties belonging to displaced Christians.

According to Open Doors,

HTS has an Islamic agenda – they have long wanted to oust Assad and Hezbollah (the Islamist Lebanese group supported by Iran) and install Islamic rule in Syria. Under HTS-control in Idlib, Christian clergy are not allowed to walk outside in any clothing that makes them recognisable as priests or pastors. Crosses have been removed from church buildings.

The HTS is still designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the European Union and the United Kingdom. 

On the invitation of Patriarch John X, Greek MEP Nikolas Farantouris paid a two-day visit to Syria’s capital, Damascus, on March 8-9, and spoke with members of the Christian community there. 

During the March 10 Plenary of the European Parliament, Farantouris requested sending a delegation to Syria, rights guarantees for the civilians in the country, imposing conditions on the new regime for any lifting of the sanctions, and immediate elections in Syria.

However, on March 17, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU is committing nearly €2.5 billion for 2025 and 2026 to aid Syria’s transition process, namely Syria’s new jihadist regime.

Recognizing and cooperating with al-Sharaa/al-Jolani and his regime means virtually normalizing and even compensating for jihadist terrorism. It is also a form of approval of the crimes against humanity his terrorist organizations have committed.

As Kostas Ant Lavdas, a professor of international relations, noted: 

By accepting Jolani and inviting [Turkey’s president] Erdoğan, the EU has lost whatever moral and normative authority it may have had. History will be extremely harsh on today’s EU leadership.

What is happening in Syria is a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Druze and Christian communities in Suwayda. It is a large-scale military operation by HTS targeting ethnoreligious minorities, involving murders, raping women, abducting civilians, and looting churches and homes. 

In response to the massacres against the Druze in Suwayda, on July 16th, Israel carried out a series of powerful strikes on military targets in Damascus, forcing al Sharaa’s forces to withdraw from the province. But as long as al Sharaa/Jolani remains the self-proclaimed ‘president’ of Syria, the persecution and threats against religious minorities in the country will continue.