SUQAYLABIYAH, Syria (AP) — An argument between two men in a Christian town in central Syria led to sectarian attacks that caused widespread damage to homes, shops and cars in a reminder of religious violence that followed the fall of longtime leader Bashar Assad two years ago.
The attacks in the predominantly Christian town of Suqaylabiyah in Hama province are the latest to target members of Syria’s Christian minority, many of whom have left the country since the conflict began 15 years ago, leaving half a million people dead and the population deeply divided.
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Bullet holes mark a wall next to a crucifix following overnight violence in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Men remove burned furniture inside a damaged home following overnight violence in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A man inspects a vehicle with shattered windows following overnight violence in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A man and a woman drive a vehicle with a shattered windshield in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026, following overnight violence. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A member of Syria's Internal Security Forces sits on a vehicle parked outside a church in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026, following overnight violence. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
There was no immediate word on casualties in the attacks that lasted until the early hours of Saturday, during which scores of men on motorcycles from the nearby Sunni town of Qalaat al-Madiq attacked the property of Christians.
“We passed through a state of terror, fear, and panic,” said Liyan Dweir, whose clothes shop was riddled with bullets and suffered heavy damage. His children were terrified during the hourslong assault, he said.
Dweir said an argument between a resident of Suqaylabiyah and another from Qalaat al-Madiq led to scores of men from the Sunni town storming the area and attacking shops, homes and cars.
“It is unfair that because of an argument two towns clashed,” he said.
Another Suqaylabiyah resident, Nafeh al-Nader, said young men broke the gate of his house and kicked a diesel heater, setting a room on fire. They tried to set another room on fire but were unsuccessful after a neighbor rushed for help, and was hit with a stick by one of the attackers.
Government forces brought in reinforcements into Suqaylabiyah, calming the violence. Hundreds of residents marched through the streets Saturday demanding accountability and declaring a strike until the perpetrators are punished.
Since the fall of Assad in December 2024, members of the country’s Alawite, Druze and Christian minorities have been subjected to attacks by gunmen loyal to the country’s new Islamist rulers. Hundreds of people have been killed, including Alawites in Syria’s coastal region in March last year and Druze in the southern province of Sweida in July.
Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government has condemned attacks on minorities but many accuse it of looking the other way or being unable to control the armed groups it is trying to absorb.
During Syria’s conflict that began in 2011, Suqaylabiyah was held by forces loyal to Assad while Qalaat al-Madiq was held by insurgent groups that eventually overthrew the Assad family's 54-year rule.
Anger has been on the rise among many Syrians after the country’s authorities banned the consumption of alcohol in the capital of Damascus. The ban affects Christian neighborhoods in Damascus that are famous for their restaurants and pubs.
Christians made up about 10% of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million. They enjoyed freedom of worship under the Assad government and some high government posts. Initially, many Christians were willing to give the new authorities a chance but the situation worsened in June after a suicide bombing inside a church outside Damascus killed 25 people and wounded dozens.
Bullet holes mark a wall next to a crucifix following overnight violence in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Men remove burned furniture inside a damaged home following overnight violence in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A man inspects a vehicle with shattered windows following overnight violence in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A man and a woman drive a vehicle with a shattered windshield in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026, following overnight violence. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
A member of Syria's Internal Security Forces sits on a vehicle parked outside a church in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of Hama, Syria, Saturday, March 28, 2026, following overnight violence. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cage-match fighting is coming to the White House to fete President Donald Trump, a proud proponent of cage-match politics.
In the coming weeks, crews will erect a 6-foot wire-mesh fence shaped into an octagon on the lawn, where UFC fighters will use a combination of kickboxing, jiujitsu, wrestling and other martial arts in a June 14 mixed martial arts show timed for Trump's 80th birthday and as part of the nation's 250th anniversary.
The celebration of bloody, brute force dovetails with Trump’s gleefully combative charisma and extreme ideological masculinity — a brawling, no-holds-barred approach to the highest office in the land.
“I have respect for fighters, you know, when you can take 200 shots to the face and then look forward to the second round,” Trump told podcaster Logan Paul as he campaigned for his second term.
Trump was the first sitting president to attend a UFC show, taking in a 2019 fight that was stopped because of a cut over the loser's eye that left blood pouring down the fighter's face.
To the uninitiated, the sport celebrates violence. It is wildly popular with young men.
“A lot of people don’t understand fighting and they think fighting is about anger. It’s not. If you’re angry when you fight, you’ll lose,” said veteran MMA referee and commentator “Big John” McCarthy.
“Fighting is about technique and style, and understanding how to make your opponent make mistakes while you don’t," McCarthy said.
“I totally understand why he likes it,” he added of Trump. “Because I do.”
It is hard to find a phrase more Trumpian than Ultimate Fighting Championship.
A committed devotee of hyperbole, Trump relishes grand descriptors that can elevate anything to its “ultimate” version. He also proudly fancies himself a fighter: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” became his 2024 campaign mantra, one crystalized after an assassination attempt that summer.
Then there is “championship,” another thing close to the heart of a president who constantly professes love for winning and those who do it frequently.
All of that means Trump giving UFC its largest-ever platform “is calculated. He knows what he's doing,” said Kyle Kusz, a University of Rhode Island professor who studies the connection between sports and the far right.
Trump “uses UFC to portray himself as a manly sportsman,” said Kusz, who said he sees parallels between the sport's style of masculinity and Trump's approach to policy and politics.
The league is planning to issue 85,000 free tickets for the event. Trump said UFC boss Dana White, a longtime friend, will build “a 5,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House” and eight large screens in a nearby park for ticket-holders to watch from afar.
The show falls on a Sunday, deviating from UFC’s usual Saturday night time slot, and will be carried live on Paramount+, which is controlled by the Ellison family, also close allies of Trump. France even pushed back the Group of Seven summit it is hosting so as not to conflict with Trump’s birthday festivities.
Trump has boasted that the event will feature “all top guys.” But fans online have panned the card for lacking top talent such as former two-division champion Jon Jones, who requested his release from the UFC immediately after being excluded from the White House show. Also absent is MMA icon Conor McGregor, whose first bout since 2021 would have been a seismic moment for the sport. The UFC's White “knows the White House card sucks,” said former champion Ronda Rousey, who is mounting her own MMA comeback outside the UFC because she says the promotion would not meet her financial expectations.
Rousey, who is close to White, says the White House show “fell extremely short of expectations.”
While still being finalized, the card features two championship fights. Brazil’s Alex Periera will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Then Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.
The White House did not answer questions about criticism of the card or the event's aggressive politics. Instead, communications director Steven Cheung, said, “This will be one of the greatest and most historic sports events in history.”
Cheung, a UFC spokesman before joining Trump's 2016 campaign, called Trump’s event "a testament to his vision to celebrate America’s monumental 250th anniversary.”
A UFC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Once famously derided as “human cockfighting” by late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., UFC has been a major sports league in the United States since signing a media-rights deal with ESPN in 2018, said Patrick Wyman, a historian and host of popular podcasts on the subject who is also a former longtime MMA journalist.
Trump, a fixture at heavyweight boxing matches in the 1980s, gave UFC a boost a generation ago by hosting early bouts, including 2001’s “Battle on the Boardwalk,” at his casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Wyman said that even as Trump and White have remained close, UFC has deliberately prioritized building the league's brand over that of its individual fighters. That has kept most stars from achieving crossover appeal.
As a result, Wyman said UFC remains most popular with men in their mid-40s to early 60s — a demographic already inclined to be Trump supporters.
“I think it’s a pretty perfect encapsulation of the way that Donald Trump thinks about politics," Wyman said of the White House event, citing its “transactional nature” and "how impossible it is to draw firm lines between business and politics.”
In 2014, Trump invested in his own, short-lived MMA league. A decade later, his reelection campaign enhanced his UFC ties, seeking to reach voters who do not usually engage in traditional politics.
Two days after he was convicted on 34 felony counts in a hush money case in June 2024, Trump went to a UFC bout in New Jersey, strolling out into the crowd with White while Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” blared. Trump's campaign used footage of the raucous ovation to help launch its TikTok account.
Then, after his election victory, Trump triumphantly appeared with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a large political entourage at a UFC fight in New York. He also attended UFC bouts in Newark and Miami last year.
Trump, who has built a large portion of his domestic travel around sporting events, is not unique among presidents using sports to appeal to voters.
Republican George W. Bush zinging a pitch in from Yankee Stadium’s mound during the 2001 World Series is remembered as a moment of resilience after the Sept. 11 attacks. Republican Richard Nixon so publicly embraced his football fandom that aides worried it might alienate some voters, said Chris Cillizza, author of “Power Players: Sports, Politics, and the American Presidency."
Such worries are gone today, though, since sports “now tends to self-select by political affiliation," he said.
“In an era where people feel like politicians are mostly weirdo aliens," Cillizza said "sports — playing them, having knowledge about them — represents one of the best ways to prove to voters you are actually a human being."
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Associated Press writers Greg Beacham in Los Angeles and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
FILE - President Donald Trump congratulates Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili, after he won his bantamweight title bout against Sean O'Malley, during the UFC-316 mixed martial arts event, at the Prudential Center, June 7, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Manuel Ceneta, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump attends the UFC-316 mixed martial arts event, at the Prudential Center, June 7, 2025, in Newark, N.J., as UFC's Dana White, left, looks on. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump talks with UFC CEO Dana White at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump talks to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at a UFC 309 mixed martial arts flyweight title bout, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)
FILE - People hold a flag as President-elect Donald Trump arrives at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
