As a survivor of Saddam Hussein’s attempted genocide of the Kurdish people in northern Iraq, Sarkawt Shamsulddin knows what American resolve can mean for persecuted people. He and his family were spared thanks to an American-imposed “No Fly Zone”.

So when he sent us the article below warning of rising persecution in Syria — accelerated by the release of thousands of ISIS fighters from prison — we took notice. Sarkawt knows the region’s tribes, sects, and power dynamics. He also knows the local Kurds, Christians, Druze, and Yazidis now face renewed danger.

He’s not asking for American boots on the ground or nation-building. But he is asking for American leverage in Syria. — Joel Kneedler

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The United States has long been the world’s most generous defender of persecuted peoples. After the Holocaust, America said “never again” and meant it. From the Balkans to Africa to the mountains of Kurdistan, when minorities faced extermination, America intervened.

I am alive today because of that commitment.

In 1991, Saddam Hussein was slaughtering Kurds. The United States led a global coalition to establish a No-Fly Zone over the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that saved millions of lives — including mine. Today, Kurdistan is a multicultural, religiously tolerant region where no American soldier or civilian has ever been killed or harmed while the rest of Iraq became a death trap for Americans. American protection made that possible.

Now, Syria’s minorities face a similar threat. And once again, America has the power to save them — without a single additional boot on the ground.

A New Syria, Same Old Problems

President Trump has chosen to give Syria’s new leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa — a former jihadi turned politician — a chance. Congress aligned with the President and lifted sanctions. The administration pushed for an integration agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), America’s partners who liberated Syria from ISIS.

I support giving peace a chance. But let us be clear-eyed about what is happening.

The new Syrian government has no popular legitimacy. There have been no elections. No constitution has been drafted with input from Syria’s diverse communities. The country is ruled by presidential decrees with no accountability. Those who seized Damascus from Assad are rewriting Syria’s future alone — without Kurds, Christians, Druze, Yazidis, or any other minority at the table.

This is not democracy. This is conquest by another name.

Broken Promises, Rising Violence

On January 16, 2026, the United States brokered a deal asking the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to withdraw from Arab-majority cities like Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor in exchange for integration and unity, and giving Kurdish-dominated areas special status. The SDF complied in good faith — they withdrew.

Damascus, however, did not honor its side of the deal.

In Raqqa, Syria, on January 17, 2026, the Syrian Army secures dozens of towns and villages in the northeast countryside. This deployment comes after the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) under an agreement aimed at avoiding direct military confrontation. (Photo by Mohammad Daher/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Mohammad Daher/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Instead, militias aligned with Turkey — wearing Syrian government uniforms — incited tribal rebellions, advanced into vacated territories, and emptied ISIS prisons. Thousands of ISIS fighters are now free, blending into communities under Damascus control. The very enemy our American partners defeated is being unleashed again.

These militias have already committed multiple war crimes, including massacres against Kurds and other minorities. Now they are advancing on Kobani — the city that became a global symbol of resistance against ISIS — and Hasakah province, which houses hundreds of thousands of displaced minorities who fled violence elsewhere.

A leaked document from Syria’s Ministry of Endowments frames this conflict as Futuhat — Islamic Conquest — justifying violence against communities as religiously sanctioned. This is not integration. This is ethnic and religious cleansing with official blessing.

America Has Done This Before

President Trump recently threatened the Iranian regime with overthrow if it continued mass executions of protesters. Iran stopped — at least for now. American leverage, when applied, works.

The United States is currently the guarantor of Syria’s new government. Washington lifted sanctions. Washington brokered deals. Washington gave Damascus legitimacy. That means Washington has leverage — enormous leverage — to demand that minorities be protected.

Last year, Syrian forces attacked Sweida province and were on their way to wipe out the Druze community until Israel intervened and stopped the advance. The Druze survived because a foreign power drew a red line. Syria’s Kurds, Christians, and Yazidis need America to draw that same line.

What Congress Can Do

The SDF has significant military capability to defend itself. But military power alone cannot guarantee long-term stability for minorities in Syria. What these communities need is official American recognition and protection within a unified Syrian state — not division, but local autonomy that prevents Damascus-aligned militias from committing massacres.

Congress should pass a resolution recognizing the special status of minority communities in northeastern Syria and calling on the administration to condition continued engagement with Damascus on verifiable protections for these populations.

This is not nation-building. This is not regime change. This is America saying: if you want our support, you cannot slaughter the people who fought alongside us.

No additional troops required. Just recognition. Just leverage. Just the moral clarity that has defined American foreign policy at its best.

The Cost of Inaction

The communities now facing annihilation in Syria are the same ones who bled alongside American soldiers to destroy the ISIS caliphate. They liberated territory far beyond their own homelands because America asked them to. They guarded tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners because the world had nowhere else to put them.

If America abandons them now — if we allow Damascus and its militia allies to conduct ethnic cleansing while we look away — we will not just betray our partners. We will prove to every future ally that American promises mean nothing.

And we will watch ISIS rise again from the chaos, just as it did before.

President Trump wants to give Syria’s new government a chance. So do I. But that chance must come with conditions. Protection for minorities is not optional — it is the minimum price of American legitimacy.

Congress has the power to act. The President has the leverage to enforce it. The only question is whether America will once again stand for the persecuted — or stand aside while they are destroyed.

History is watching. So are Syria’s minorities.

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Sarkawt Shamsulddin is a former member of the Iraqi Parliament, non-resident fellow at Atlantic Council (2022-2025), and founder and CEO of the US Iraq Advisory Group.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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How America Can Protect Syria’s Minorities — Without Boots On The Ground