On Monday, President Donald Trump met with Syrian leader Ahmad al Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al Jolani. This pivotal meeting offers a critical opportunity: to leverage American influence and to protect Syria’s ancient and diverse communities, which have endured relentless threats during more than a decade of conflict, displacement, and despair.
The international community, regardless of political differences, shares one clear aspiration: that Syria remains united, stable, and sovereign, not fragmented along sectarian lines nor subservient to foreign powers or extremist ideologies. Syria’s enduring strength lies in its diversity — a rich tapestry of faiths and ethnicities that have coexisted for millennia. Christians, Alawites, Druze, Kurds, and Sunni and Shia Muslims together form one of the world’s oldest living mosaics of civilization.
Yet in 2025, under Sharaa’s rule, that diversity is increasingly under threat. Across the country, minority communities face growing insecurity and persecution. There have been reports of targeted violence: church burnings and the killing of Christian clergy near Hama; the forced displacement of Druze families in Sweida; and attacks on Alawite villages in the Latakia countryside. In some cases, property belonging to Christian and Alawite families has been unlawfully expropriated by militias loyal to the regime, jihadist groups operating with impunity, or even government forces themselves.
The result has been the slow erosion of the very social fabric that once held Syria together.
Sharaa has blamed U.S. sanctions, particularly the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, for his government’s inability to maintain order. He argues that only by lifting sanctions can Damascus secure the funds needed to stabilize the country. But this argument stands reality on its head. The obligation to protect Syria’s minorities is not — and must never become — contingent on sanctions relief. The right to safety, property, and religious freedom cannot be reduced to a bargaining chip in geopolitical negotiations.
Trump understands this instinctively. He has already shown moral clarity by pressuring foreign governments to protect vulnerable Christian communities, including most recently in Nigeria, where violence by extremist groups has drawn global condemnation. Now, he has the opportunity to apply that same conviction to Syria: to make clear that any path toward normalization must include firm guarantees for Syria’s Christians, Alawites, Druze, Kurds, and others who have suffered in silence for too long.
By using his meeting with Sharaa to champion these ancient communities, the president can do more than advance U.S. interests. He can reaffirm America’s historic role as a defender of faith and freedom, and he can remind the world that moral leadership still matters in international diplomacy.
TRUMP QUIETLY MEETS WITH SYRIA’S FORMER JIHADIST PRESIDENT AT WHITE HOUSE
Syria, the cradle of civilization, should not become the graveyard of its oldest faiths. The meeting between Trump and Sharaa offers a rare moment of leverage, one that could determine whether the country moves toward reconciliation or slides further into sectarian fragmentation.
If Trump insists that meaningful engagement hinges on concrete protections for Syria’s minorities, he can help stabilize a critical region and solidify his legacy as a peacemaker — demonstrating that U.S. leadership can be a force for both strategic and moral good.
Joseph E. Schmitz served as inspector general for the Department of Defense from 2002 to 2005.
