Members of the Alawite community in Syria face “constant” threats of violence, including “large-scale massacres,” abductions, and mob attacks, the head of the Alawites Association of the United States told Breitbart News, urging President Donald Trump to pressure the country’s leadership to respect the rights of minorities.
Dr. Morhaf Ibrahim, president of the Alawites Association of the United States (AAUS), offered insights on the bloody persecution his community is facing during remarks in anticipation of this week’s International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, DC, which serves to offer a platform for those who have suffered persecution for their faith. The AAUS will be participating in an event on Tuesday on the future of Syria following the collapse of the longstanding Assad family regime in late 2024. The IRF summit is scheduled to run from February 1 to 3.
The Alawites are an ethnic and religious minority present largely in Syria and Lebanon whose faith evolved out of Shia Islam. Deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his family are Alawites, leading to many in the Sunni Arab Muslim majority identifying the entire group as allies and beneficiaries of the regime. Following Assad’s flight to Russia in December 2024, the country fell into the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda offshoot led by wanted terrorist “Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.”
“Al-Jolani” abandoned his jihadist pseudonym, changed his wardrobe, and is now known as President Ahmed al-Sharaa, an alleged champion of diversity and inclusion. He enjoys friendly relationships with the government of many neighboring countries and, pivotally, with President Donald Trump, who has praised him as a “young, attractive guy” and described himself as pleased with the progress Syria has made since Sharaa seized power.
The reality of Alawites — and other ethnic and religious minorities such as Christians, Kurds, and the Druze — on the ground in Syria has been a harrowing one since the end of the civil war, marked by regime-affiliated jihadists engaging in massacres and terrorizing their communities. Dr. Ibrahim, the AAUS president, described to Breitbart News a state of “sustained persecution” facing the Alawites, including “mass dismissals from government employment, arbitrary detention, violent repression of protests, kidnappings, sexual violence, and attacks on neighborhoods by sectarian mobs.”
“These are not legacy crimes of the Assad era; they are occurring now, under new authorities, often with impunity and at times with the active involvement or acquiescence of security forces,” he emphasized. “Any assessment of Syria’s ‘transition’ that ignores this reality risks rewarding repression rather than encouraging reform.”
Multiple waves of large-scale violence against Alawite civilians by jihadists associated with the regime have attracted Western headlines. In March, for example, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) documented the killing of up to 1,500 people as jihadists targeted Alawite families, killing them in their homes on some occasions and using drones to bomb them in others, in alleged “revenge” attacks. Some of the jihadists involved in the attacks uploaded videos of the horror to social media; one such video showed a man rummaging through an Alawite home chanting “ethnic cleansing,” clarifying the intent of the attacks.
In a more recent outburst of violence, regime-linked jihadists opened fire on peaceful protesters in the Alawite stronghold of Latakia in December.
In these instances, the Sharaa government, through its state media arm, dismissed the targeted persecution. Sharaa claimed in March to organize an investigation to prosecute anyone guilty of sectarian violence, but Damascus did little to protect the Alawites or other minorities, such as Christians, who were threatened by jihadists warning they would be “next” after the elimination of the Alawites. In December, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) claimed the attacks on the Alawites were a “security” response to “remnants of the deposed regime,” who allegedly attacked first.
“Syria’s new rulers have taken contradictory steps — at times offering symbolic outreach to Alawite communities, while simultaneously tolerating or failing to restrain armed factions responsible for abuses against them,” Dr. Ibrahim explained to Breitbart News. “This duality has deepened mistrust and left civilians uncertain whether the state is a guarantor of safety or a source of danger.”
The AAUS president also emphasized that Bashar Assad and his family being Alawites did not mean that every Alawite in the country benefitted from that regime — in fact, many faced the same Assad regime brutality as Syrians of other backgrounds.
“Claims by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham–led authorities that violence against Alawite communities reflects spontaneous public anger over Bashar al-Assad,” he explained, “or that Alawites themselves are plotting against the government — are not supported by the available evidence and risk legitimizing collective punishment.”
“Moreover, the narrative that Alawites as a community are responsible for Assad’s crimes ignores a central reality emphasized by Carnegie and New Lines,” he said, “Alawites were not a monolithic political actor under the Assad regime. Many were economically marginalized, forcibly conscripted, or politically excluded, and thousands were themselves victims of the war.”
The targeted violence Alawites are facing does not fit the profile of “isolated acts of public rage,” Dr. Ibrahim added.
“Reuters investigations document organized, large-scale killings earlier in 2025 involving armed factions operating through identifiable command structures, some linked directly or indirectly to authorities in Damascus,” he recalled. “These were not mob actions driven by emotion, but coordinated operations involving checkpoints, detentions, executions, and the targeting of specific villages and neighborhoods.”
“Such patterns fundamentally contradict the claim of uncontrolled popular sentiment,” he noted.
Dr. Ibrahim urged the Trump administration to use its leverage, gained from supporting stability in the country under Sharaa, to pressure the new regime to respect the rights of minorities. The reports of jihadist violence, apparently tolerated by Sharaa, are not limited to attacks on Alawites: Kurds, the Druze, and Christians have all denounced government-linked jihadist violence against themselves. In late January, Kurdish administrators and advocates in northern Syria reported armed men associated with the regime engaging in beheadings and other outrageous jihadist behavior following the signing of an agreement between Damascus and the autonomous Kurdish leaders in Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan. The AAUS has been outspoken in supporting Syria’s Kurdish minority against targeted violence, advocating for the respect of all minorities in the country.
“If President Trump is engaging directly with Ahmed al-Sharaa and the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham–led authorities, it is essential that he understands the reality on the ground for Syria’s Alawites and other vulnerable religious minorities,” Dr. Ibrahim said. “Public optimism about new leadership must not obscure documented patterns of abuse, collective punishment, and sectarian targeting that continue today.”
Dr. Ibrahim described America has having a “critical role to play” outside any military action.
“First, America should consistently and publicly affirm the principle of equal citizenship,” he suggested. “This means making clear — privately and publicly — that Syria’s legitimacy, sanctions relief, diplomatic engagement, and reconstruction prospects depend on concrete protections for all Syrians regardless of sect, including Alawites, Christians, Druze, and others. Equal citizenship must be treated as a non-negotiable foundation, not a future aspiration.”
Dr. Ibrahim also urged Washington to demand “an end to arbitrary detentions, forced dismissals from public employment based on identity, and tolerance of mob violence,” as well as categorically rejecting the excuse that Assad is an Alawite to justify violence against an entire community.
“U.S. officials should explicitly state that grievances against a former regime do not justify targeting civilians, and that security concerns must be addressed through individualized evidence and lawful procedures,” he explained.
“In short, if President Trump wishes to support a stable Syria and a credible political transition, U.S. engagement must be tied to clear expectations: equal citizenship, protection of individual liberties, rule of law, and zero tolerance for sectarian persecution,” Dr. Ibrahim concluded.
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