In August, the Trump Administration removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. It had also previously lifted sanctions "to create a new relationship between the United States and Syria."
"These actions were all taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time.
If al-Sharaa, a former arch-terrorist, had truly "distanced" himself from terrorism, you would think that grooming Syrian children for jihad (holy war) and martyrdom would not be at the top of his list. Yet, this appears to be exactly what is happening in Syrian Arab schools:
According to a new report, "The New Syria: Education Under al-Sharaa: Review of Syria's National School Curriculum, 2025–2026," authored by The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), what can only be described as an Islamist indoctrination effort on steroids is taking place in the Syrian Arab school system from grades 1 through 12.
The report analyzed 130 textbooks from the Syrian Arab Republic's national school curriculum for the 2025-2026 school year and found that far from revising the existing school curriculum's emphasis "on jihad, martyrdom, sacrifice, and the glorification of both religious and secular heroes" the new curriculum has not only left it in place but is doubling down on it by, "across subjects and grade levels, continu[ing] to normalize and valorize violence, armed resistance, and self-sacrifice as central components of collective identity and moral duty. Themes of confrontation, martyrdom, and militant steadfastness are embedded within literary, historical, and religious instruction, presenting armed struggle not as a tragic necessity or last resort, but as an honorable and expected response to perceived injustice."
"From the earliest grades," according to the report, "martyrdom is introduced as having a spiritually exalted status, while jihad is framed as both a moral and military duty tied to defending religion, the homeland, holy places, and the Islamic nation (ummah)."
A couple of examples: "A Grade 8 Arabic Language textbook incites students to take up the fight against Israel for the Golan Heights, encouraging them to view sacrificing their own lives to reclaim this land as a noble and heroic act."
This incitement to violence is "taught through a poetic verse about the Golan Heights, stating 'in every span of this soil [the Golan Heights], there is a fragrance from martyrdom or a remnant of a body.' Significantly, this verse appears within a sub-chapter dedicated to the concepts of shuhada (martyrs) and sacrifice for the nation." [p. 75]
In grade 10, students are taught that "joy remained incomplete as long as there remained even one piece of Arab land defiled by the filth of Zionist occupation." [p 78] The students are furthermore taught, again through poems, to glorify violence and death in the name of "Palestine:"
"One particularly notable example is found in the Grade 12 Arabic Language textbook, in a lesson on 'The Bridge' by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, a poem dedicated to the Palestinian Right of Return after the Nakba, through imagery saturated with death, destruction, and suffering," according to the report. "Beyond its strong anti-Israel framing, the lesson's accompanying grammar exercises reinforce and normalize this violence... Students are asked to analyze lines describing a river spitting 'pieces of shredded meat' at its banks... and 'the migration of blood in the river's waters'... The incorporation of such imagery into routine linguistic exercises transforms scenes of bloodshed and death into ordinary pedagogical material, effectively aestheticizing violence..."
Lessons also romanticize martyrdom, such as one Arabic language textbook used in grade 11, which presents martyrdom, "as one of the highest moral, national, and religious virtues" with the martyr "the ultimate embodiment of 'sacrifice, selflessness, and giving.' The lesson repeatedly romanticizes death in battle and political struggle through emotionally charged poetry and imagery, citing various poems which praise the sacrifices and martyrdoms of nationalist and pan-Arab militant 'heroes.'" [p. 83]
Jihad is taught from the earliest grades throughout grade 12 as a duty, which means a Muslim must fight "until achieving victory or martyrdom."
The duty of jihad is taught by having students "consider what measures they might take to 'defend the homeland and liberate occupied territories.'"
"Taken as a whole, the curriculum constructs an educational environment in which self-sacrifice and militant struggle are not peripheral themes, but recurring motifs that shape historical consciousness, literary interpretation, and religious understanding," the authors of the report conclude. "Historic events, poetic imagery, and Islamic concepts are repeatedly woven together to present armed resistance, martyrdom, and death in struggle as morally elevated and identity-forming ideals... encouraging pupils to perceive fighting and martyrdom as faithful continuations of revered historical struggles while simultaneously legitimizing and glorifying violence, killing, and sacrifice in the context of wars and revolutions...Looking ahead, this integration of armed resistance into multiple domains of study raises concerns regarding the promotion of peace-oriented values and the cultivation of critical, pluralistic perspectives."[p. 99]
In addition, the curriculum, unsurprisingly, teaches antisemitism: One grade 6 book on Islamic Education, for instance, teaches that "treason and backstabbing are among the traits of the Jews." [p.111]
Overall, the textbooks present a civilizational hierarchy with Islam reigning supreme over Christianity and Judaism, which must both submit to Islam. Whereas Christians, however, can be "tolerated or protected under Islamic authority...Jews are repeatedly marked as dangerous, treacherous, financially immoral, punished, and in need of correction through Islamic moral authority."
This indoctrination was frankly all too predictable: Syria is run by a fomer arch-terrorist, who during his decades-long "career" was at first a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and then went on to found Al Qaeda's branch in Syria, the Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front), which he led from 2012-2017. He then formed HTS as a conglomerate of various jihadist groups to replace then Syrian President Bashar al Assad's regime with an Islamic state – and the Trump administration, in fact, removed the HTS' from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list.
What does the Trump Administration think al-Shaara is doing? Indoctrinating children with terrorism and jihad might just indicate that al-Sharaa is building to build the Islamic state that al-Shaara has fought for his entire terrorist career.
By having taken Syria off the list of Foreign State Sponsors of Terrorism and lifting sanctions, the US will sadly succeed in one thing only: The emergence of yet another radical, terrorist, jihadist state.
The Trump Administration would be wise to put Syria right back on it.
