AMCD Condemns Attacks on Syrian Christians

The attacks on Al-Suqaylabiyah (credit: Syriac Press)

A growing number of Americans are becoming increasingly uneasy with this ongoing persecution.”

— Dr. Walid Phares, foreign policy expert and AMCD senior advisor.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, April 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy unequivocally condemns the latest jihad attacks on the Syrian Christian city of Al-Suqaylabiyah in Western Syria. While harassment of Christians is an ongoing problem in Syria, the most recent attacks are a marked escalation. What began as men on motorbikes harassing Christian girls, soon turned into “a large-scale

attack targeting residents’ property, the destruction of religious sanctities, and explicit death threats” according to news reports. Local Christian men were arrested by the General Security Forces, and these officers simply looked on while the attacks on the Christian shops and homes took place. In response, Christians held an all-night vigil in Damascus, trying to draw the world’s attention to their plight.

“We call on President al-Sharaa to do his duty and order his General Security Force to stop these attacks and to protect the Syrian Christians,” said AMCD co-chair, Tom Harb. “The eyes of the world are on him.”

“Unfortunately, the power on the state now rests in the hands of a former jihadist, whose sympathies are with the attackers,” added AMCD co-chair John Hajjar. “We assume al-Sharaa’s goal is to preside over a fully-functioning, modern, pluralist state, but he is likely more inclined to create a modern caliphate, where Christians and other minorities are allowed to live, but only under the strict rules of Islam.”

Dr. Walid Phares, senior advisor to AMCD and author of Future Jihad, warned: “Urban attacks by jihadists on Christians and Alawites in western Syria, as well as on Druze in southern Syria—alongside mounting pressure on Kurds to abandon autonomy—signal that the central government in Damascus has yet to embrace the principles of a multiethnic, federal Syria. Such attacks on vulnerable communities should prompt renewed consideration of international protection measures and a reexamination of past massacres against Alawites and Druze, as well as acts of terror targeting Christian communities. A growing number of Americans are becoming increasingly uneasy with this ongoing persecution.”

AMCD calls on President Trump to issue a warning to al-Sharaa: Either stop these attacks or face renewed US sanctions.