Though Ahmed al-Sharaa continues to present himself as a “moderate,” and someone who will protect Syria’s minorities — Alawites, Druze, Kurds, and Christians — members of his own armed forces have been attacking, and killing, members of all those groups. In March, Sunnis, including veterans of al-Sharaa’s rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, killed 1,500 Alawites in Latakia. In July and August, the Syrian army sent its troops to Sweida, ostensibly to stop the fighting between the Druze and local Bedouin tribes, but at once they began to slaughter the Druze, with over 2,000 total deaths. The army has also attacked the Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), resulting in dozens of Kurdish casualties in Aleppo. The regime has been pressuring the SDF to disband as a separate militia and for its Kurdish troops to be integrated into the Syrian army.
Now the Alawites are again under attack, with an explosion an Alawite mosque in Homs. More on this attack can be found here: “Sectarian attack: Eight dead, 21 injured in Homs mosque incident targeting Alawite minority,” Jerusalem Post, December 26, 2025:
Eight people were killed in an explosion at a mosque of the Alawite minority sect in the Syrian city of Homs on Friday, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
SANA cited Syrian Health Ministry official Najib al-Naasan as saying 21 others were wounded and that the figures were a preliminary toll, indicating they could rise.
Homs city’s press office said an explosive device had detonated inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib mosque and that security forces had cordoned off the area.
Local official Issam Naameh told Reuters the blast took place during Friday noon prayers, typically the busiest time for mosques.
Syrian state media SANA published footage of rescuers and security forces examining debris splayed across the mosque’s green carpet. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack….
The Trump administration has warmly embraced Ahmed Al-Sharaa, and lifted all the sanctions on Syria that had previously been placed on it when Assad’s regime was still in power. But the behavior of the new regime in Damascus does not inspire confidence. Attacks on all the minorities continue, with the latest one being the deadly explosion at an Alawite mosque in Homs. Instead of lifting all those sanctions, the Trump administration should have lifted only a few, and demanded, as the price for lifting the rest of them, that al-Sharaa’s army protect, rather than attack, the Alawites, Druze, Kurds, and Christians. That includes stationing troops outside the mosques of the Alawites, the churches of the Christians, and the khalwat (meeting houses) of the non-Muslim Druze. It also means punishing individual Sunnis who call for, or take part in, attacks on the minorities. Let’s see if Ahmed al-Sharaa, the newly-minted “moderate” in his suit and tie, agrees to that.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
So why is Nigeria worse than Syria that it deserves to be bombed? Or why is Syria better than Nigeria that it doesn’t?
I guess MbS burned up his mediation credits in favor of al-Shara’a, so has none to spend on Nigeria, which is a quarter of a world away
ploome says
Military.com | By Darius Radzius
Published December 26, 2025 at 6:30am EDT
United States forces recently launched Operation Hawkeye Strike in Syria, hammering ISIS targets in a large-scale assault provoking broader questions about the terror cell’s impact on U.S. national security.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yeah, but ISIS is not the one persecuting Christians in Aleppo and Homs. It’s sunni militias aligned w/ HTS, if not HTS itself. ISIS in Syria is more on the East of the Euphrates (which is why they come into contact w/ the Kurds, who are the majority there) and near the Turkish border. Not in major Syrian cities like Aleppo, Homs, Latakia and so on
jewdog says
The Trump regime probably sees dollar signs in lifting the sanctions against Syra. This should help appease Qatar and other rich Gulf muckety-mucks, helping with arms sales and other business “deals”. Attacks on minorities are a sort of sentimental distraction and they can be safely ignored. Very transactional, indeed.
OLD GUY says
For Islam there will always be a minority to attack. It is their religion.
Linda Goudsmit says
President Trump’s domestic policies continue to strengthen America. Secure borders, deportations, medical reform, educational reform, paper ballots, and tariffs are essential America 1st and MAGA policies. President Trump’s current Middle East policy is not America 1st or MAGA, it protects Muslim countries at the expense of every Judeo-Christian nation including America, and advances globalism’s war on nation-states. President Trump is a history buff and should know that “deals” are just part of the 1400 years of Islamic doctrine that makes it the religious obligation of every Muslim to participate in the establishment of a worldwide Islamic caliphate through jihad. Islam is a supremacist, expansionist, totalitarian replacement ideology with a religious wing. Some jihadis are savage like the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. But the most dangerous jihadis are polite, well-dressed, and speak with forked tongues. Every Muslim business deal with an infidel is a “taqiyya” (lying in the service of Islam) promise, and every peace deal is a “hudna” pause. For Muslims there will only be peace on Earth when all the world is Muslim, Mr. President, you are participating in the War on America by ignoring these foundational facts about Islam––it’s doctrinal––and its written in Islam’s texts from their holy Koran to the “Muslim Brotherhood’s “Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America.” Islam is Islam is Islam. Sunni and Shi’a will unite whenever necessary to eliminate the infidels, and then battle each other for supremacy. Things are different in the Middle East. What is 50 0r 100 or 200 more years added to 1400??? Just a blip. This is the longest ideological war in history and will continue until all the world is Muslim, or until Western leaders adopt a war mentality. Having a peacetime mentality during a time of war is national suicidal.