CSI calls on Trump, Starmer, to prevent genocide in Syria

Appeal from Christian Solidarity International comes after days of massacres on the Syrian coastline

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, March 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In the wake of the massacre of over 1,000 Alawite civilians by pro-government forces in Syria, Christian Solidarity International’s president, Dr. John Eibner, has sent letters to U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling on them to act to prevent genocide.

The appeal follows a Genocide Warning for Syria which CSI issued on March 10, in response to the mass killings which took place in Latakia and Tartous provinces, on the Syrian coast, from March 7-10.

“The targeted killings of Alawites did not happen in a vacuum,” Eibner wrote to both leaders. “They form part of a continuum of violence against Syria’s non-Sunni religious minorities perpetrated by jihadists – often with the backing of western states – in their war against the secular dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.”

In December last year, jihadist forces under the command of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. Al-Sharaa has since named himself as Syria’s interim president.

In his letters, Eibner noted that while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio clearly condemned the massacres and designated their perpetrators as “radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has refrained from naming either the perpetrators or their victims.

“No one should expect that this violence, if ignored, will stay contained to Syria,” Eibner warned. He noted that the name of the group that al-Sharaa led in Syria’s civil war was the “Organization for the Liberation of al-Sham,” a region that includes not only Syria, but also Lebanon and Israel.

Eibner also added that, “Some Christian civilians were also killed in the massacre, and Christians across the country are living in fear of further violence.”

Eibner wrote that CSI is calling on the United States and the United Kingdom to impose targeted sanctions on Ahmed al-Sharaa and his lieutenants, to cooperate on a public international investigation of the killings, and to uphold their countries’ responsibility under the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide in Syria.

Eibner specifically appealed to President Trump to uphold his pledge to “protect persecuted Chris-tians,” and to revive and pass the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, which was introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2017 by Representative Tulsi Gabbard and Senator Rand Paul. The bill aimed at banning U.S. support, direct or indirect, for jihadists in Syria. President Trump has since named Tulsi Gabbard as the U.S.’s National Intelligence Director.

Joel Veldkamp
Christian Solidarity International
+41 76 258 15 74
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