MENA Minorities

“The Assyrians of Syria: History and Prospects”   by Mardean Isaac, Syria Comment

Swedish Journalist Carl Drott provides a fascinating account of the Dawronoye , a Christian guerrilla force, operating in Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Read all about its roots in the Turkish far left of the 1980s, its relationship with the Kurdish PKK and how its caders helped to set up the Syriac Military Council. Noteworthy is how the fighters interviewed were annoyed by the ongoing argument in the diaspora, whether they should call themselves Syriacs, Assyrian or Aramean. The Revolutionaries of Bethnahrin  by Carl Drott, War Scapes

Map by @le_carabinie (see here for bigger version) IS takes over Assyrian village Tal al-Jazira by Asrar Chbaro   by Asrar Chbaro , Al Monitor/An Nahar This is the Islamic State (IS),” was the answer heard by Father Sirjun Zumaya, pastor of the congregation of the Assyrian Mar Girgus church in Lebanon, when he tried to call his wife’s uncle Wanis in Tal al-Jazira. The village had been attacked by the “birds of darkness” at 5 in the morning on Feb. 23. Since then, the line has been out of service. Zumaya told An-Nahar the details of the conversation that took place at 1 p.m. on the day of the attack. He said: “When one of the organization’s fighters responded on the phone, I answered, ‘I hope you’re well, I want to speak with the phone’s owner.’ The fighter said he wasn’t there, but I was sure that the number belonged to him, which made me call. I spoke to Wanis in Assyrian, and he responded to me in Arabic in a terri...

Westerners join Assyrians militia to fight ISIS by Isabel Coles, Reuters (...)The militia they joined is called Dwekh Nawsha - meaning self-sacrifice in the ancient Aramaic language spoken by Christ and still used by Assyrian Christians, who consider themselves the indigenous people of Iraq. A map on the wall in the office of the Assyrian political party affiliated with Dwekh Nawsha marks the Christian towns in northern Iraq, fanning out around the city of Mosul. The majority are now under control of ISIS, which overran Mosul last summer and issued am ultimatum to Christians: pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die by the sword. Most fled. Dwekh Nawsha operates alongside Kurdish peshmerga forces to protect Christian villages on the frontline in Nineveh province.(...)

Readers of this blog might remember, that the case of Swiss nationals fighting in Syria for the YPG-affiliated Syriac Military Council had been a topic here already. Now German magazine Focus published a report about this approximately 10 fighters and the support they are receiving from the neutral country. „Kampf ist christliche Pflicht“ Kreuzzug gegen den Terror: Schweizer Christen ziehen gegen IS in den Krieg by Focus Online A very great article by Rania Abouzei for National Geographic deals with the current political situation of the Christians in northern Iraq, including it's leadership, plans for autonomy and the recent phenomena of Christian militias, even though their establishment is (so far) rather symbolic. The latter is a huge difference to the passivity of the Christians during the civil war after the fall of Saddam Hussain, when the Christians reacted with passivity to persecution. This shift is also reflected by the contacts of the Assyrian Democratic Movem...

Mosul's Christians Say Goodbye by Christian Caryl, Foreign Policy Assyrians and Christians under attack in Iraq and Syria  by Stephen Starr, The Irish Times Iraqi Christians Huddle Miles From Militants in Mosul , AFP   Iraqi Christians find refuge in ancient monastery by Jane Arraf, AlJazeera America Militants' advance threatens Christians in Iraq  by Arwa Damon, CNN

The ISIS' takeover of Mosul, Iraq's second city, threatens the fragile Christian presence in the Ninawa plain, which has developed in recent times. Nina Shea has a very pessimistic reading of the Christian perspective in Iraq - and there is little to object at the moment even though it seems like ISIS has not reached the Christan strongholds yet. Btw, Italian Priest Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, who was kidnaped by ISIS in Raqqa, is most likely alive according to recent Italian reports , contrary to the article below: The Cleansing of Iraq's Christians Is Reaching It's End Game by Nina Shea,  The National Interest

Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim , the Archbishop  for the Eastern United States, was elected as 123rd Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. Upon his installation his name will be Ignatius Aphrem II Karim. The new Patriarch is relatively young (just 48) and was born in Qamishli, in Syria's Hasaka province. Judging by his statements in US-media, he is potentially regime leading.

Swedish journalist Carl Drott, whose work for Syria in Crisis  has been mentioned here already, wrote two pieces fresh from the field about the current situation of the Syriac Christians in Qamishli and provides some background on the split of the Sutoro/Sootoro militia in a pro-Kurdish (Sutoro) and a pro-regime (Sootoro) wing. According to Drott the Sutoro is currently growing and setting up branches in other towns of Hasaka province as well. "Syriac-Kurdish Cooperation in Northeast Syria" by Carl Drott "A Syriac Militia Splits in Qamishli" by Carl Drott

The Syriac Military Council (SMC)   in Syria's north eastern Hasakah province has  officially joined the YPG, the main Kurdish militia. Not to be confused with the other Syriac militia Sutoro (which is reportedly lately leaning more towards the regime site) the SMC was established a year ago and has recently proven to be an active fighting group. As Christians they add a cross-secterian flavor to the already secular image of the YPG.

Assyrian militia in northeastern Syria A rare report on Syria's Assyrian Christians appeared in Le Monde diplomatiquie (English edition). In Qamishli, the capital of the Hasaka province, the Assyrian militia Sutoro was established by the Syriac Union Party and has an ambivalent relationship with the Asad regime. Hasaka province has a mainly Kurdish population and a significant Christian (Assyrian and also Armenian) minority as well as more tribal oriented Sunni Arab inhabitants.