Complex sentence: The Samaritan community in the Middle East survives as a distinct religious and cultural sect and constitutes one of the oldest and smallest ethnic minorities in the world, numbering just fewer than 700 members.
Split into simpler sentences: The Samaritan community in the Middle East survives as a distinct religious and cultural sect. It constitutes one of the oldest and smallest ethnic minorities in the world, numbering sightly less than 700 members.