# Influential evangelical leader says US should shouldn't give sanctions relief or recognition to Syria | Fox News

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Published March 11, 2025 10:51am EDT

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Center for Religious Freedom's Nina Shea and Rev. Johnnie Moore discuss the threat to Christianity in Syria after rebels take over the capital and the U.S. role in protecting Christians.

JERUSALEM—The former al Qaeda terrorist and current Interim President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, failed to stop a massacre of over 1,000 Syrians, including Christians, that unfolded last Thursday and continued over a period of days.

Al-Sharaa and his organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated Sunni terrorist organization, toppled former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

Christian leaders and human rights activists have cast strong doubts on the capability of al-Sharra’s Islamist regime to build a democracy that can protect vulnerable religious minority groups.

"This is a warning that the Syrian government is not ready for prime time if it can’t protect a handful of vulnerable Christians who had absolutely nothing to do with this violence except being its victims," Rev. Johnnie Moore, the president of The Congress of Christian Leaders, told Fox News Digital.







Moore lambasted the posture of the Europeans toward the hardcore Syrian Islamist regime by noting the European governments seem to be rewarding the regime in Damascus.

"And for this to happen within 24 hours of the United Kingdom announcing that they are waiving sanctions on the Syrian national bank and over 20 other entities is a warning sign to the entire Western world and the EU commission is continuing with its plans do a funding conference in the near future to help the new Syrian government."

Moore continued, "The response from the U.S. should be the exact opposite. The United States should send a very, very clear message to the new Syrian government that there will be zero sanctions relief and there will be zero normalization of its treatment to the new Syrian government until it proves that it's going to be able to protect all the citizens of Syria, including its vulnerable Christians."





Christians gather to celebrate Christmas at the Monastery of Our Lady of Saydnaya on Dec. 24, 2024 in Saydnaya, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)

Moore noted that during the Syrian civil war, Christians were killed and displaced. In December, the Center for Religious Freedom's Nina Shea and Moore  the threat to Christianity in Syria after rebels took over the capital and the U.S. role in protecting Christians.

The Christian population in Syria has shrunk considerably since the start of the 2011 Syrian civil war. There are an estimated 300,000 Christians in the war-torn nation. Prior to the Syrian civil war, the Syrian Christian community numbered 1.5 million.

Benjamin Weinthal reports on , , ,  and . You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com
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