Nearly 100 American faith leaders have urged President Donald Trump to press Syrian President Ahmed al‑Sharaa to end impediments to relief and protect vulnerable communities in southern Syria, ahead of their planned White House meeting on November 10, 2025.
Dozens of U.S. faith leaders sent an open letter to President Donald Trump asking him to raise the plight of Christians, Druze, Alawites and Kurds in southern Syria and to push for unhindered humanitarian access. The letter, organized by Save the Persecuted Christians and released November 7, was obtained by the Daily Wire and posted publicly by the group. It was timed to Trump’s planned meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al‑Sharaa. (dailywire.com)
In the letter, the signers call for a “secure humanitarian corridor from Hader to Suwayda” and praise recent U.S. attention to religious freedom abroad, including the administration’s move to again designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern under U.S. law. The letter’s appeal followed a wave of social‑media support from high‑profile figures, including rapper Nicki Minaj, who publicly thanked Trump for speaking out about persecuted Christians in Nigeria. (savethepersecutedchristians.org)
Their plea comes amid harrowing accounts from Suwayda. Videos verified by Amnesty International and reporting by Reuters show armed men in military-style uniforms forcing civilians to their deaths—including executions of kneeling Druze men in a public square and victims pushed from balconies—during July’s eruption of sectarian violence between Druze factions and Sunni Bedouin fighters that intensified after security forces entered the city. Humanitarian agencies describe widespread displacement and acute shortages that followed. (amnesty.org)
The Supreme Druze Religious Council has asked the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria to investigate alleged atrocities against the Druze community, a filing reported by the Jerusalem Post. The appeal alleges crimes against humanity and war crimes and urges accountability. (jpost.com)
Access for aid to Suwayda has been irregular since July. U.N. convoys began reaching the governorate after the main Damascus–Suwayda highway reopened, and officials have used corridors via nearby Daraa to move relief, though authorities have intermittently restricted routes during clashes. A recent U.S.-Jordan‑Syria roadmap pledged to secure roads, facilitate relief and support returns of the displaced. (apnews.com)
The letter also lands as Washington and the U.N. ease sanctions on Syria’s new leadership. On November 6, the U.N. Security Council voted to remove al‑Sharaa and Syria’s interior minister from a terrorism‑related sanctions list; the next day, U.S. authorities delisted al‑Sharaa from domestic counterterrorism measures. In July, the United States revoked the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for Hay’at Tahrir al‑Sham (HTS), the Islamist faction formerly tied to al‑Qaeda that al‑Sharaa once led, as part of a broader recalibration following Bashar al‑Assad’s ouster. Earlier, the administration moved to unwind most U.S. economic sanctions on Syria. (reuters.com)
Signatories include former Ambassador‑at‑Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, Dr. Ben Carson, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, Save the Persecuted Christians’ Dede Laugesen, and Matthew Faraci of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, among others. (savethepersecutedchristians.org)
“The forgotten minorities of Syria cannot wait,” Laugesen said in a statement, calling the letter “a clarion call for immediate intervention to secure a humanitarian corridor that upholds the dignity and rights of the vulnerable.” (savethepersecutedchristians.org)
U.S. officials have framed recent policy shifts as recognition of changes in Syria since Assad’s fall, while rights investigators continue to urge accountability and safeguards for religious and ethnic minorities. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry has warned that renewed sectarian violence and attacks on civilians in the south risk undermining Syria’s fragile transition unless perpetrators are prosecuted and aid can move freely. (apnews.com)
