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Bashar al-Assad is gone, and the Biden administration has promised to “recognize and fully support” a new Syrian government.

Cause for celebration, right?

Not quite.

Entire towns like Maaloula — where Aramaic, the language of Christ, was still spoken — have been overrun and devastated.

Obama’s dream scenario

The fall of Assad might feel like a win for democracy to some in the West. But for Syria’s Christians, it signals something far more sinister. Specifically, survival under the shadow of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist faction infamous for its cruelty.

Assad’s regime, for all its authoritarian brutality, at least offered a semblance of stability for minorities like Christians, who had lived in Syria for nearly two millennia, tracing their roots back to the apostle Paul.

Now that the doctor turned dictator is gone, an ominous future awaits those left behind.

While Assad’s departure may surprise some, it is the result of years of American scheming — a calculated coup long in the making. Since the Obama administration, the U.S. has made no secret of its determination to see Assad removed from power, channeling billions of dollars into a convoluted web of rebel factions.

All under the guise of promoting democracy and stability, of course.

Many of these factions proudly embraced extremist ideologies, including ties to groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. In a dark irony, the U.S. ended up arming and funding organizations that not only fought Assad but also harbored deep anti-American hatred. While they openly chant “death to America,” the Pentagon responds with, “Here, have some expensive weapons.”

Now, after years of scheming and intervention, the mission is complete. Assad is gone. But at what cost? Syria’s people, especially its Christian minority, are left to bear the burden of this so-called “victory.”

Syria was already a dystopian hellscape, but never forget that hell has a basement. Things can always get worse.

And they almost certainly will.

A new type of evil

Despite its rebranding efforts to appear more palatable to the international community, HTS remains steeped in an ideology that threatens non-Muslim minorities.

We’ve seen this play out before. Remember when the Taliban assured U.S. lawmakers it would govern more civilly once American forces withdrew? Shockingly, the bloodthirsty extremists known for beheading infidels and raping young boys weren’t being honest.

Similarly, HTS’ promises of protecting minorities and fostering stability are nothing more than a cynical PR stunt. This is a group of barbarians whose track record speaks volumes.

In 2013, Bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, two of Syria’s most revered Christian leaders, were abducted at gunpoint near Aleppo while on a humanitarian mission. Their driver, a young deacon, was executed on the spot.

The bishops were traveling to negotiate the release of other kidnapped civilians — a testament to their courage and dedication to their people. Their fate remains unknown, but the silence surrounding their disappearance suggests both men likely met a violent end.

This was no random act of violence. The kidnappers acted with precision and intent, targeting two pillars of the Christian community.

Their abduction was a warning to every Christian in the region that even their most revered leaders could be made to disappear, that centuries of faith and tradition offered no protection against the onslaught of persecution.

Bombings and burnings

The assault didn’t end with the bishops. Ancient churches, some standing for over a thousand years, have been bombed into rubble and burned to the ground.

Entire towns like Maaloula — where Aramaic, the language of Christ, was still spoken — have been overrun and devastated. Families have been shattered: fathers executed, daughters abducted, mothers forced to watch their homes go up in flames and their children vanish without a trace.

To be clear, this is not to suggest that life under Assad was rosy — far from it. His regime was marked by its own brand of cruelty and repression.

But brutality exists on a spectrum, and the atrocities unleashed by extremist groups against Syria’s Christians plunge to depths that defy comprehension. In many ways, Assad embodied a 21st-century dictator. Always in a sharp suit, there were moments where he seemed almost human.

But HTS, designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization, drags the region into a grim revival of medieval darkness. Quite literally.

Second-class citizens

The imposition of dhimmi status under jihadist regimes like HTS mirrors the oppressive practices of medieval Islamic caliphates, where Christians were relegated to second-class citizenship. Their existence is tolerated, but only on strict terms.

The payment of a humiliating jizya tax — a special levy imposed on non-Muslims as a condition for practicing their faith — lies at the heart of the oppressive reality of dhimmi status. This tax was designed not just as a financial burden but as a symbolic reminder of submission to Muslim rulers.

Alongside this, Christians face the loss of basic rights, such as the ability to build or repair churches, and live under the constant expectation of subservience to their Muslim overlords.

These conditions strip them of dignity and autonomy, leaving their existence fraught with humiliation and danger. Any perceived deviation from these oppressive terms can bring swift and severe punishment — imprisonment, public execution, or exile from the lands their ancestors have called home for centuries.

A decade ago, the world watched as the horrifying reality of jihadist rule unfolded in Mosul. When ISIS seized the city in 2014, Christians were given three impossible choices: convert to Islam, pay the jizya tax, or face execution.

The worst is yet to come

The Western narrative portraying Assad’s fall as a step toward democracy (whatever that slippery term means today) blatantly disregards the harsh realities on the ground.

It also overlooks the lessons of history. The removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya were similarly celebrated in the West as triumphs of freedom and progress. Yet as we all know, those so-called victories were in fact devastating losses. These nations have collapsed into chaos, with civil war, lawlessness, and endless suffering now the reality for their people.

Today, Iran — one of America’s fiercest adversaries — effectively controls Iraq, a nation currently consumed by one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Libya, once a stable and prosperous nation, is now so broken that Mars appears to be a more hospitable place to live.

Make no mistake, the humanitarian toll in Syria will be staggering. As the conflict deepens, waves of refugees will continue to pour across Syria’s borders into neighboring countries like Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey — nations already struggling to accommodate millions of the displaced. The exodus won’t end there. It will spill into Europe, a continent already in the throes of a migrant crisis.

Assad’s ousting is a sobering reminder of the catastrophic consequences of regime change without a viable post-conflict strategy. America’s “break stuff and move on” mentality — smashing regimes without considering the long-term fallout — leaves a vacuum of power and stability that is inevitably filled by extremists, warlords, and demonic despots. In Syria’s case, this failure will haunt not just the Middle East but the entire world.

Instead of celebrating, perhaps we should brace ourselves — because the worst is yet to come.