President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House Monday, prompting scrutiny over al-Sharaa’s treatment of his country’s Christian minority.

Trump has made addressing the global persecution of Christians a priority of his administration, and he designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” and called for a congressional investigation in October.

Nigeria is not the only country where Christians are being targeted. Religious minorities are targeted or caught in the crossfire as players move for power in Syria.

As the nearly 14-year civil war came to a close, al-Sharaa’s forces took control of the Syrian government from Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in late 2024.

Al-Sharaa’s resistance, the Nusra Front, was formally aligned with al-Qaeda until 2016, Reuters reported. It rebranded itself in 2017 as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Al-Sharaa previously had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, but he told CNN in December that his group was working to reassure Christians targeted by extremist and jihadist groups during the civil war that they would be safe under his rule. (RELATED: Ex-Terrorist Leader Goes On Fox News, Gives Wild Answer About 9/11)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa waits to meet with France’s President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City on September 24, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

“There were some violations against them [minorities] by certain individuals during periods of chaos, but we addressed these issues,” al-Sharaa told CNN.

“No one has the right to erase another group,” he continued. “These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them.”

Despite al-Sharaa’s promises, doubts remain due to his resistance group’s jihadist origins and track record of human rights abuses, Open Doors research analyst on the Middle East, Henriette Kats, said in December. (RELATED: Trump Sprays Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa With Cologne, Asks How Many Wives He Has)

CEO of Christian rights organization Open Doors U.S., Ryan Brown, told the Daily Caller the attacks happening in Syria don’t take place in a vacuum, and they are the result of a civil war.

Brown said the threat Assad’s regime posed to Syrian Christians was a “known entity,” but the rise of al-Sharaa bred uncertainty and elicited mixed reactions from Christians.

Al-Sharaa began his rule by meeting with high-level clergymen to “lay the foundations for future dialogue” with the goal to “continue these meetings to reach future understandings,” an anonymous official told AFP, Al Arabiya English reported.

Despite al-Sharaa’s purported commitments, the future of Syrian Christians remains uncertain. They face attacks from groups opposing al-Sharaa because of their faith, while others are being killed in unrelated conflicts involving forces allegedly tied to his government.

A suicide bomber attacked an evening Catholic Mass in June, taking the lives of 22 people and wounding more than 50 others, according to Open Doors.

“I was preaching when the shooting began. Then came the screams,” the father of a neighboring Greek Orthodox church told Open Doors. “Everyone instinctively dropped to the ground. The fear… it was unspeakable. We were all in shock, paralyzed by the horror.”

Security forces are on the scene where a suicide bomber, allegedly linked to ISIS, blew up his explosives in the Mar Elias Church on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday June 22, 2025. According to preliminary reports, 15 people were killed and several others were wounded as the result of the incident. (Photo by ANAGHA NAIR/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrian authorities attributed the attack to ISIS, according to the report.

“We thought getting rid of the previous regime was going to give us some sense of freedom,” an Open Doors partner told the organization, claiming authorities are only “pretending to protect the rights of everybody in Syria.”

Hundreds of minorities — including the Druze and Alawites —were slaughtered in 2025, Open Doors reported. The group noted that many are questioning whether al-Sharaa can control the extremist groups in his country.

Al-Sharaa called on “remnants of the former regime” to immediately surrender and vowed to hold accountable “anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians,” according to Al Arabiya English.

Head of the Europe branch of the Christian Syriac Union Party, Joseph Lahdo, said Christians have become the “target of direct attacks,” according to Christian Solidarity International.

Outside of the bombings and direct attacks on churches and families, Lahdo alleged Christians face taxes and financial pressure, and Christian women are forced out of workplaces and universities.

Christians also face political marginalization, absence of real representation in governing institutions and continuous threats from extremist groups and Turkish military operations, according to Lahdo. He added that Christians lack access to adequate international support.

A man holds a Syrian flag across the street from the White House after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump at White House in Washington, DC on November 10, 2025. Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday for unprecedented talks, just days after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country’s 1946 independence. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

In preparation for Trump’s Monday meeting with the president, nearly 100 U.S. church leaders signed an open letter thanking Trump for his recent efforts in combating Christian persecution in Nigeria.

The letter urged Trump to address the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, in Syria.

“[R]eligious minorities face ongoing violence, death, displacement, starvation, and water and medical deprivation, all while innocent women and children are held hostage by ISIS terrorists,” the letter stated.

The letter, whose signatories included Vice Chair of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Dr. Ben Carson, requested Trump “secure President al-Sharaa’s commitment to opening a secure humanitarian corridor from Hader to Suwayda in southern Syria,” arguing the corridor would facilitate aid delivery and the evacuation of civilians.

It’s estimated that nearly 90% of the aid being distributed through Damascus does not reach its intended target of Sweida, according to the Catholic Review. (RELATED: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa Shoots Hoops With US Military Officials Ahead Of White House Visit)

Although it is unclear whether such topics came up during the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, Trump said he believes al-Sharaa can make Syria successful and help bring peace to the region.

After Trump’s meeting, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom indicated the government will continue to address issues of religious freedom in the region.

The commission will hold a virtual hearing on religious freedom in Syria Thursday to “identify continued challenges to U.S. policy and religious freedom in Syria.”

Witnesses are slated to speak on specific threats to freedom of religion or belief toward Syrian minorities, as well as how the U.S. “can leverage bilateral, regional, and international interests in its support of [freedom of religion or belief] for all Syrians.”

Brown told the Caller there are ways Syria’s government can ensure Christians and religious minorities are protected, including by implementing constitutional reforms that enshrine basic protections for Christians and other Syrian minorities. He said the U.S. should continue to encourage the prioritization of the freedom of religious belief in its international relations.

He said the most important way someone can help is to pray for Christians and others caught in the Syrian turmoil, as well as donating to groups like Open Doors. The organization supplies information on countries dealing with Christian persecution, helps support the livelihood of Christians and provides trauma care after attacks, like the suicide bombing in June.

Brown said that although most Christian persecution is directly violent, other forms of persecution are increasing around the world, specifically during the past few years in sub-Saharan Africa.

“It is becoming alarming how much violence is continuing to escalate in the expression of persecution,” he told the Caller.