Lawmakers and international observers are expressing increasing concern as the security forces of Syria’s interim government continue to threaten religious minorities and the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces that still control large swaths of the country’s northeastern region. The development comes amid a shaky ceasefire between the Kurds and government forces that has allowed for a resurgence of the jihadi ISIS terrorist group.

Over the weekend, a U.S.-backed ceasefire between Syria’s government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was extended for 15 days, following clashes between the two sides earlier this month that left dozens dead. The conflict emerged after new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has previously been linked to terrorist groups associated with al-Qaeda, has attempted to consolidate the SDF into his regime’s forces. But the SDF, which was the U.S.’s principal ally in ridding the region of ISIS during President Trump’s first term, has resisted the merger amid reports of atrocities committed against Kurdish civilians by government forces.

Meanwhile, reports of ISIS prisoners formerly under guard by the SDF escaping are now proliferating in the midst of a chaotic transfer of prison guardianship to government forces. The news comes as Iraq’s spy chief Hamid al-Shatri warns that ISIS forces in Syria may have grown from 2,000 to as many as 10,000 over the past year.

Experts like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say that the resurgence of ISIS and a Syrian regime mostly staffed by Islamist extremists means that religious minorities and Kurds are under serious threat in the region. “The fact is, the Syrian Ministry of Defense has too many Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers among its ranks, and ongoing attacks against religious and ethnic minorities over the past year indicate that the government lacks either the capacity or the will to protect them,” he wrote Tuesday in The Washington Post.

Pompeo further argued that the U.S. should establish “a buffer or separation line between SDF and government forces, potentially backed by a limited U.S. and coalition presence.” He also contended that the sanctions that Trump recently rescinded should be reimposed until al-Sharaa “honor[s] the government’s promises to Syria’s minorities, pull[s] back from the military campaign against the SDF and crack[s] down on any resurgence of ISIS or other terrorist groups.”

Lawmakers like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are taking action by introducing legislation that would impose “crippling sanctions” on any group or government that threatens the Kurds. “The Kurds are under threat from the new Syrian government that is aligned with Turkey,” he warned. “It would be a disaster for America’s reputation and national security interests to abandon the Kurds, who were the chief ally in destroying the ISIS caliphate.”

Middle East expert Nadine Maenza, who serves as co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, argues that the Syrian government’s actions show it cannot be trusted.

“[J]ust five hours ago, the Syrian government sent seven suicide drones into one city and in a village,” she reported during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Tuesday. “And these are the kind of things we’re continuing to see, attacks from the Syrian government. … [B]ringing religious freedom into Syria is the only way the country will be fully stabilized.”

Maenza continued, “There’s this belief among some, and it seems to be among [U.S.] Ambassador [to Turkey] Tom Barrack, that an authoritarian, centralized government will somehow bring stability to Syria. Actually, northeast Syria was … the only part of Syria that has stability and peace. And [the Kurds] had already built that social cohesion among all the religious communities. They governed together, and we weren’t seeing any community attack one another for … many years in northeast Syria. So now … Damascus, with a history of attacks against religious minorities, [is] literally trying to take the northeast by force and somehow pretending that they’re bringing peace and stability to Syria, and the process doesn’t add up. … [W]ho pays the biggest price? The Christians and other religious minorities.”

Maenza, who formerly served as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), went on to observe that Syria’s interim president should be on a short leash to follow through on his promises of bringing peace to the country.

“[H]e is getting enormous pressure from Islamist base,” she noted. “[H]is security forces are made up of HTS. … [T[hese brigades … have been sanctioned by the U.S. for horrific violations and human rights abuses against religious minorities. [There are also] foreign fighters who literally answered the call to jihad, came to Syria, demanded an Islamic state. So he’s got a lot of pressure coming from these forces, and the U.S. and the international community [need] to balance that out. … If he does want to be a pragmatist and he does want to build an inclusive government, we need to demand that so he has cover to be able to push back on his own bases. And right now I don’t think that’s happening.”

As for what the U.S. can do to help stabilize the situation, Maenza emphasized that the Trump administration must insist that local autonomy be allowed to flourish within a wider Syrian coalition.

“I think the U.S. has to demand that no Syrian government forces at all go into these Kurdish areas,” she made clear. “… Number two, I think we have to have local members leading their own communities. We need Yazidis, Christians, all the Kurds to be mayors, to be administrators, to be part of those councils, keep the governance they have built. They can integrate into the government that way. And there needs to be changes to the Constitution. These are all easy things to ask for. These are things [that] could even be done if we demand them, because they need that balance, or they’re going to end up being an Islamist authoritarian government.”