Syria’s new government, old threats

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 22nd of July.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up, a massacre in Syria.

Syrian government forces are being blamed for a brutal attack last week on the Druze minority in the country’s south. Reports say more than 350 people were killed. Many of them slaughtered inside a local hospital. Gruesome video has come out, apparently showing torture.

REICHARD: It’s the second mass killing of a religious or ethnic group in Syria in just four months.

But so far, the world’s attention has focused less on the victims and more on Israel’s military response, with airstrikes on Syria’s military headquarters in Damascus.

EICHER: Joining us now to talk about the attacks is Richard Ghazal. He’s Executive Director of the nonprofit In Defense of Christians. He is also a retired US Air Force intelligence officer and military lawyer.

REICHARD: Richard, good morning.

RICHARD GHAZAL: Good morning Mary, thanks for having me.

REICHARD: Richard, let’s start with some context. Who are the Druze?

GHAZAL: Well, the Jews are an ethnic minority, a religious minority in Syria. They don't just live in Syria. They exist historically in southern Syria, southern Lebanon and northern Israel. They're currently one of the largest ethnic minorities in Syria. They've been protected for several decades under the Assad government, the former Assad government. Now that that government is no more, of course, they are subject to retribution and all kinds of atrocities that we currently witness.

REICHARD: Some media outlets say this is primarily a tribal conflict between Bedouins and Druze…but others say rebel fighters now in the Syrian military are the ones carrying out the worst atrocities. Who’s responsible here?

GHAZAL: Well, it certainly is a tribal dispute, or at least that's how it began. It's following decades, even centuries, of conflict between these tribes, the Bedouin Sunnis, as well as the Druze, since the fall of the government that kind of held it all together, the civility, so to speak, quote, “civility.” It's been all out war, you might say, between them taking out years of aggression in recent weeks. In recent days, however, you've seen the Syrian transitional government become involved—some say passively, and some say quite actively and aggressively—in this conflict. So it's really morphed from a tribal tribal matter to one of political and religious violence.

REICHARD: The United States recently ended some sanctions on Syria following the change in government. If the Syrian military is responsible for these killings, what does that mean for the U.S.?

GHAZAL: Well, the US needs to really come together and figure out its coherent Syria policy moving forward. I think it was a good move to lift sanctions and normalize diplomatic relations with the transitional government in Syria, but it's important also to place strict conditions and guardrails moving forward, because we know who's in charge of the transitional government. They have a problematic history, former Al-Qaeda members and jihadists from all across the world, frankly. So unless guardrails in strict conditions are placed, we're going to see more atrocities of this sort. And you know, we can't weigh the carrot without the strong stick behind it.

REICHARD: Israel carried out airstrikes on military targets in Damascus last week…what’s at stake for Israel in this conflict?

GHAZAL: Well, Israel shares a border with Syria, of course. For decades, the Golan Heights has been a conflict point with shared borders. Currently, Israel is requiring that the Suwayda district also remain demilitarized. Should Suwayda fall to HDS and the Syrian traditional government and its radical proxies that we currently see operating down there, it could spell a real, serious situation for Israel and the whole region.

REICHARD: Richard, I understand you are a practicing Syriac Orthodox Christian. What are Christians in Syria facing right now?

GHAZAL: They live in fear every day. When the government fell this past winter in December of 2024, there was some degree of excitement, because it presented a new day, a new beginning for Syria. But it was a very sober jubilation, of course, because they knew who was in charge, and they hadn't disappointed, so to speak. And I mean that in a very, in a very grim way. This government that is dominated by Islamic radicals has time and again, shown its true colors, despite the hope, despite the cautious optimism, whether we're talking about the massacre of Alawites in March or whether we're talking about the current massacre of Druze that we're seeing in the south of the country.

Syrian Christians have been suffering all along. It's not a matter of waiting their turn, because it's been sort of a simmering persecution, a simmering atrocity that's been happening to Christians. Something that occurred just a few weeks ago, which got very little media attention, of course, was the attack, the suicide bombing at St Elias Church, which was a Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus, the capital, Syrian capital. So unfortunately, I regret to say, these situations will continue. But it's up to the Western Community, the Western community of nations. If they want to welcome the Syrian government into the international fold, strong conditions must be put in place to prevent this.

REICHARD: Is there any other aspect of this story that you think warrants more attention?

GHAZAL: Well, I think that the situation is reported quite widely, because it is an international event that’s been 40 years in the making: the fall of the last government and the takeover of the new government. What I think probably would warrant more attention over the humanitarian atrocities happening. Now the media reports, of course, whenever there's a big event like the massacre of Alawites or Druze or possibly the bombing of a church, although that gets less airplay. But the story arc of minorities in Syria should be given more attention.

The fact that we now have a Sunni radical government that has a history of Jihadist ideology and activity is now in charge, which, frankly, spells disaster for these minorities. The current Syrian traditional government has been on its best behavior by some measure, with isolated incidents like this as bad as they are, but in order to be welcomed into the international fold, you have to operate as an international actor. And thus far from what we've seen, we haven't observed that.

REICHARD: Richard, I think I read that you speak Aramaic. Is that true?

GHAZAL: That’s correct, yes.

REICHARD: Could you say a line in Aramaic and address it to our listening audience, which is primarily Christians?

GHAZAL: [SPEAKING ARAMAIC]

What I said was, “Hello, greetings to my fellow Christians. We pray together that there will be peace in the land of the origin of Christianity, the cradle of Christianity, the Middle East and holy land. And we pray for the peace of the communities living there.

REICHARD: Very good. I’m so glad I asked. Richard Ghazal is Executive Director of In Defense of Christians. Thank you so much for this analysis!

GHAZAL: Thank you Mary.

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