Trump must pressure Syria to protect Christians from 'ethno-religious cleansing,' advocate warns

The burial of a 19-year-old who died in the June bombing at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria, has come to symbolize the "ethno-religious cleansing" of Syria's Christian indigenous people, says a Swedish investigative journalist who is urging the United States to ensure Syria's religious minorities are protected as the Trump administration embraces the new government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Nuri Kino, founder of A Demand for Action, an organization advocating for better protection of minorities in the Middle East, was one of several witnesses who spoke before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom during a virtual hearing on Thursday.

During the hearing titled "Religious Freedom in Syria's Post-Assad Transition," Kino opened his remarks by reflecting on Maryana, a teenage girl killed in the bombing of the Greek Orthodox church in Damascus five months ago, the deadliest attack on Syria's Christian community since the 1860 Damascus Massacre.

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