Syria is on track to experience a genocide if security protections are not put in place for endangered religious minorities, according to one expert on global religious freedom.

If the “right” steps are taken, there could be “a long-term, stable, I hope, open to democratic [government in] Syria that will take place. We get it wrong now, you will have a genocide within three or four years,” warns Sam Brownback, who formerly served as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration.

To prevent genocide, “local security has to be provided by and for minority groups so that they can protect themselves,” Brownback said while speaking at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. this week.

Multiple minority groups, including Alawites, Christians, Kurds, and Druze, are currently facing various levels of persecution in Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime at the end of 2024. Reports of kidnappings, church bombings, and torture of minority groups continue to emerge from the country.

Dr. Morhaf Ibrahim, who is........

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