The recent and rapid overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has created a power vacuum in the region, prompting a swift response from the United States. President Joe Biden authorized airstrikes against strategic targets to prevent ISIS from exploiting the instability. While this action is deemed necessary, the Deseret News Editorial Board argues that ensuring religious freedom in the post-Assad era is equally crucial.
The editorial emphasizes that establishing religious liberty and ending discrimination against religious minorities is fundamental for lasting peace in Syria and should be a top priority for the U.S. The ideal solution, according to the board, is a democratically elected, republican government with a constitution guaranteeing basic human rights.
Prior to the regime change, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2024 report described religious freedom conditions in Syria as “poor.” The report identified Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that toppled Assad, and other Turkish-backed Islamist opposition groups as the primary perpetrators of severe religious freedom violations.
Despite recent conciliatory statements from HTS leaders, including Abu Mohammad al-Jolani’s assertion to CNN that “no one has the right to erase another group,” skepticism remains. Reports of HTS torturing and abusing dissidents in Idlib cast doubt on their commitment to protecting minority rights.
The editorial highlights existing legal challenges to religious freedom in Syria. The constitution mandates the president be Muslim and, while it allows for the respect and protection of other religious traditions, grants the government broad power to restrict religious practices that “prejudice public order.” This provision has been used in the past to ban groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and outlaw conversions from Islam. The Yazidi religious minority has faced particularly severe persecution, with many Yazidi women and girls kidnapped by ISIS in 2014 still believed to be held in Syria.
Quoting Thomas S. Warrick, former deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism policy, the editorial stresses the need for “outside help and support” for meaningful change in Syria. It calls for collaborative postwar planning involving both the Biden and incoming Trump administrations, echoing Biden’s own statement that the fall of Assad presents “a moment of historic opportunity.”
The Deseret News argues that while the U.S. should avoid prolonged entanglement in a civil war, establishing a free and democratic republic in Syria would be a significant strategic victory. More importantly, guaranteeing religious liberty would uphold a fundamental human right for millions. The editorial concludes by advocating for U.S. and allied efforts to promote conditions of religious freedom in Syria, emphasizing that the region has suffered from warfare and persecution for far too long.