U.S. Envoy Tom Barrack on Tuesday signed a roadmap agreement with Syria and Jordan regarding the southern province of Suwayda, where Christians, Druze, and other religious minorities in southern Syria suffered attacks by tribal antagonists and government-backed forces in July. The agreement comes days after Christian organizations sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging him to do all he could to protect religious minorities in Suwayda.

According to early news reports, the roadmap sketches a sequence of steps, including bringing perpetrators of violence to justice, providing uninterrupted humanitarian aid, compensating victims, restoring basic municipal services, reestablishing security, and pursuing inclusive reconciliation.

Whether the newly formed Syrian government is capable of meeting each step of the roadmap to the satisfaction of Western observers remains an open question. In December 2024, an Islamist militia in northwest Syria suddenly toppled the brutal Assad regime and pledged to steer the country in a more democratic, peaceful direction.

But the new regime — comprised largely of jihadist figures who once had ties to ISIS and al-Qaeda — has a lot to prove to gain the confidence of the West, not to mention Israel. In particular, how will a group of former (if the adjective is even appropriate) terrorists adjust to governing an ancient, diverse country in a just, equitable manner? The summer’s violence in Suwayda was not an auspicious beginning.

Against this backdrop, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and six other Christian leaders wrote to Rubio of “the dire need for an immediate humanitarian corridor to be established between Hader and Suwayda.”

Hader is a Druze border village under the shadow of Mount Hermon, approximately 60 miles northwest of Suwayda, through which Israeli aid convoys cross into Syria and supply Druze border settlements.

The Israeli military has controlled the area since December 2024, when it repelled armed gunmen who were attacking a United Nations post in the U.N.-administered border zone between Israel and Syria. In July, hundreds of Israeli Druze breached the border and rushed to the defense of their religious brethren in Suwayda, prompting Israel to tighten security; Israel also identified dozens of suspects attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory from Syria. As of August 3, Israeli ground troops had crossed the border into Syria in over 300 “routine operations,” such as thwarting arms smuggling to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A corridor to Hader “will allow the Druze and Christians located there to move freely,” the letter argued. “In addition, humanitarian aid must be allowed to be delivered directly to the Suwayda region instead of being routed through Damascus or another location.” This reflects a profound lack of trust in the Damascene government’s willingness or ability to protect the religious minorities in Suwayda.

This mistrust deepened in July, when armed men wearing military uniforms or official insignia executed dozens of Druze. An investigation by Amnesty International, a left-leaning human rights organization, found verified documentation of 46 “extrajudicial executions” of Druze men and women in Suwayda on July 15 and 16. “These executions by government and government-affiliated forces occurred in a public square, residential homes, a school, a hospital and a ceremonial hall in Suwayda governorate,” Amnesty wrote in the September report.

In light of such shocking revelations, “sanctions relief for Syria should be conditioned on sufficient progress in religious freedom and human rights conditions in Syria,” the Christian groups urged Rubio. “Certainly, at this moment, when religious minorities are being targeted and killed in Syria, progress on this issue has not been sufficient for sanctions to be permanently lifted.”

“Religious freedom is a universal human right, and all human beings — because they are created in the image of God — should be given the freedom to choose their faith and live it out as they see fit,” the letter argued. “This freedom is under assault in many places around the world, including Syria, where Christians, Druze, and other religious minorities have been targeted, attacked, and killed on account of their religious beliefs.”

“The United States government can be a strong advocate for the persecuted,” counseled Perkins and the other Christian leaders, “by emphasizing the importance of religious freedom in its public and private communications, and by linking policy decisions like sanctions relief to religious freedom progress.”