Trump holds key to saving Syria's vanishing Christians in crucial White House meeting

The United States has a uncommon and decisive accidental to safeguard Syria’s endangered spiritual minorities, arsenic President Donald Trump meets with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House Monday. 

This marks a important measurement successful Syria’s turbulent past pursuing the fall of the Assad regime last December. 

Championing a federated strategy of governance that decentralizes powerfulness volition assistance unafraid the endurance of Christian, Druze and different susceptible communities. Until decentralization efforts are established, self-defense capabilities for these spiritual number communities are indispensable to support them from sectarian unit and "religious cleansing."

President Donald Trump is expected to conscionable with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa astatine the White House. (Bing Guan/Pool/AFP via Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

As a caller Syrian authorities looks to rebuild a federation fractured by years of civilian war, and aft a summertime of heinous persecution, President Trump’s relation successful ensuring the destiny of Syria’s spiritual minorities, peculiarly the Christians, has ne'er been much crucial.

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In June, a termination bomber walked into a Greek Orthodox church outside Damascus and detonated his explosives. The unit killed 25 and near 65 wounded successful its wake. The grief-filled congregation sorted done the bodies of worshipers scattered among the shards of stained solid and rubble, the eyes of the Holy Prophet Elias icon looking down implicit the bloodied church. Charred Bibles and shoes blown disconnected the victims’ feet were piled up, a grisly monument to the horrific carnage.

Only 1 period later, the Greek Melkite Church of St. Michael, located successful the predominantly Druze portion of Sweida, was ransacked and acceptable ablaze. The flames consumed the beatified sanctuary and sparked a new question of spiritual violence. 

Before the civilian warfare began successful 2011, much than 1.5 cardinal people, 10% of Syria’s population, were Christians. Today, as fewer arsenic 300,000 Christians remain.

Syria is the oldest location of Christians extracurricular of Israel. It was connected the roadworthy to Damascus that the Apostle Paul famously was called by Christ. It was successful Antioch (now successful modern Turkey) that the followers of Christ were archetypal called Christians. The Patriarchate of Antioch was the archetypal of the pentarchy successful the aboriginal centuries of the Church. 

Syria is the cradle of Christianity. Christians cannot basal idle portion its astir past traditions and peoples suffer. 

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For Christianity to vanish from Syria would beryllium similar doctrine fading from Athens oregon liberty from America – it would mean erasing 1 of the surviving foundations of Western Civilization.

And portion geopolitical implications persist, the question is nary longer if Syria’s Christians volition survive, but how long tin they endure relentless oppression without important reform. The terms of practice with the United States should beryllium a committedness from al-Sharaa to unafraid the extortion of Syria’s spiritual minorities.

Since lifting sanctions successful June, President Trump holds the governmental leverage to marque hybrid governance a information for limiting aboriginal sanctions oregon providing reconstruction aid.

By modeling a blueprint of existing section councils managing day-to-day affairs supported by determination authorities, reconstruction successful Syria presents a unsocial accidental to heighten nationalist unity by archetypal stabilizing section communities, giving Christians and different spiritual minorities a dependable successful their governance.

This attack ensures U.S. enactment for rebuilding portion besides protecting quality rights successful susceptible communities. 

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The caller Syrian enactment would beryllium omniscient to prosecute this exemplary of governance.

A federated Syria would dwell of autonomous provinces, each with the powerfulness to govern itself and support its people. Syrian Christians are often near unprotected. Federalization stabilizes number groups, truthful that nary 1 azygous group, beryllium it Alawite enactment remnants of the Assad Regime or HTS militants, tin predominate done force. The parliamentary elections successful Syria this twelvemonth exacerbated these concerns, with number groups citing a deficiency of practice successful what feels similar an "attempt to reproduce the dictatorship."

Northeast Syria offers a moving illustration of what federalization tin achieve. In areas erstwhile ruled by ISIS, its section councils person built stableness by ensuring practice for each assemblage  – Kurds, Arabs, Christians and Yazidis alike. These structures person fostered bid and societal spot wherever chaos erstwhile reigned. Dismantling them would erase years of progress. Instead, incorporating this exemplary into a nationalist national model would fortify the country’s unity without returning to centralized power oregon empowering remnants of the aged regime.

Syria has historically had a much integrated society. This provides an accidental to laic a coagulated instauration for decentralization that ensures section autonomy portion inactive respecting nationalist individuality and without undermining the state.

Syria’s analyzable acceptable of players, including Russia, Iran, Turkey and the U.S., are much focused connected strategical alliances and territorial power than deepening sectarian divides. This gives Syria a unsocial accidental to found a decentralized exemplary that tin stabilize interior and outer interests and support its minorities. 

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Al-Sharaa’s extremist absorption to federalization stems from his presumption that section autonomy would endanger nationalist unity and sovereignty. But federalism is really the mode guardant to support a divers Syria. Without section power and protection, spiritual minorities, peculiarly the Christians, volition each beryllium forced to flee, arsenic they person virtually everyplace other successful the Middle East.  

The Syrian exemplary should amusement a caller mode for spiritual minorities to past successful the region.

Balancing section self-governance with nationalist unity volition make a aboriginal wherever spiritual minorities are nary longer astatine the mercy of groups successful power, but alternatively empowered to support themselves and cultivate a stable, pluralistic society. The Kurdistan portion of Iraq is simply a highly palmy exemplary of however this could enactment successful Syria.

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Tears of Syrian Christians – of mothers tending graves, fathers wandering done debris, and sons and daughters mislaid to exile – h2o a onshore acquainted to the slaying of the innocent. As the hr of bid dawns done President Trump’s gathering with Al-Sharaa, we commune it’s a durable bid for each Syrians, bulk and minority. 

Decentralization is not conscionable different option. It is simply a necessity if Christians are to stay successful this past homeland.

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Nadine Maenza is seat of the Institute for Global Engagement, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable and erstwhile seat of the U.S. Commission connected International Religious Freedom.