MENA Minorities

Bellow you find some citations of myself from this summer, mostly in regard to the crucial attack on the Druze population of Suwaida' by ISIS which took place on July 25. Remember that about 30 woman and children are still hold captive by ISIS and no one seems to care. Syria's Druze minority: walking a war-time tightrope , Agence France Press (...) Syria's Druze have been split by the uprising that erupted in 2011 against President Bashar al-Assad, who had long portrayed himself as a protector of the country's minorities. Druze should not be seen "as being neutral in this war -- it's more multifaceted and the Druze are not a monolithic bloc," said Tobias Lang, an analyst focused on Druze populations in the Middle East. One of the first soldiers to defect from Syria's army in protest at its handling of demonstrations was Druze officer Khaldun Zeineddine, who later died in clashes against regime forces. Others remained firmly loyal, like Gene...

Der österreichische  Kurier bringt ein Interview mit dem  jesidischem Peshmerga-General  Qassim Shasho  in Sinjar. Lesen Sie selbst aber er scheint weder über die KRG noch über die PKK oder die internationale anti-ISIS Koalition besonders glücklich zu sein. Interessant ist, wen er als Feinde betrachtet: " Türkei, Iran und Araber, das sind unsere Feinde". Möglicherweise hat besonders die Vertretung der KRG in Österreich Erklärungsbedarf in der nächsten Zeit, wo man in Erbil doch sowohl mit der Türkei als auch mit dem Iran verstärkt militärisch kooperiert... "Ein Befehl – und hier ist kein IS mehr"

"In the Fray"— @UChicagoMag 's new article about my #Yazidi advocacy work with Yazda @YazdaOrg https://t.co/Dkq6CzOH5g pic.twitter.com/rcVEu2nr3e — Matthew Barber (@Matthew__Barber) 4. März 2016

Armenier in Syrien: Erst kamen die Osmanen, dann der "Islamische Staat" von Raniah Salloum, Spiegel Online

In Syria the mainly Ismaili city of Salamiya (Hama province) is threatened to be taken over by the Islamic State: Deadly rocket barrage  hits Syrian Ismaili town , Now

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...

In contrast to the case of the Christians, which is more an expulsion, what is happening now to the Yazidis clearly has genocidal features. Other minorities like the Shabak might be next. One of the best overviews comes from Matthew Barber (also read his piece on the expulsion of Mosul's Christians) for Syria Comment: IS Routs Peshmerga, Takes Control of Sinjar Mountains, Jeopardizes Yazidi Homeland by Matthew Barber, Syria Comme nt Some round-up: Iraq’s Religious Minorities are Being Slaughtered and ISIS Just Captured the Last Town Giving Them Shelter by Andrew Slater, The Daily Beast In a major defeat for Kurdish forces the Iraqi town of Sinjar was captured Sunday by the group known as ISIS, now calling itself the Islamic State. This is the Kurds first major loss to ISIS and a catastrophe for the religious minorities who had taken refuge in the area and are now at imminent risk of being slaughtered. Reports from the region describe an unfolding tragedy with...

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

 According to a report by Reuters : The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has demanded that Christians in the city of Raqqa pay a levy in gold and curb displays of their faith in return for protection, according to a statement posted online Wednesday. The Al-Qaeda splinter group’s directive in the eastern city is the latest evidence of the group’s ambition to establish a state in Syria founded on radical Islamist principles, a prospect that concerns Western and Arab backers of other rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad. ISIS said it would ensure Christians’ safety in exchange for the levy and their adherence to restrictions on their faith, citing the Islamic legal precept of “dhimma.” It said Christians must not make renovations to churches or other religious buildings, display religious insignia outside of churches, ring church bells or pray in public. It demanded every Christian male pay a tax of up to 17 grams of gold, a levy th...

Christians in the Bekaa increasingly threatened by Islamists  In Al-Monitor a report  appeared  from the mainly Greek Catholic towns of Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa on the Lebanese-Syrian border. In the Bekaa valley, where tensions between Hizballah and Syrian Islamist rebels are running high, Christians towns feel increasingly threatened by Sunni Islamists from Syria as well: “Civilians are forming patrols to protect the borders in places like al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek,” said a source in the Defense Ministry that chose to remain anonymous, as he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. “What they are doing is in coordination with the local municipality and the governor of the Bekaa, so it’s half-legal, let’s say.” Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa are two of Lebanon’s largest Christian villages, inhabited predominately by Greek Catholics and located on the northeast border with Syria. To date, locals say Ras Baalbek has yet to experience any incidents involving ar...

by Rami Abou Diab and Tobias Lang Islamist pressure on Druze villages in Idlib Three weeks ago a previous posting on this Blog about the situation of the Druze in northern Syria (Jabal al-A‘la or Jabal as-Summaq) stated, that " If it is true, that Kaftin or other Druze villages are under the control of ISIS, the inhabitants are faceing extremely hard times". While  end of October  an attack by  al-Qaida affiliated  ISIS on the village of Kaftin had been prevented by villagers of surrounding Sunni settlements and/or FSA elements, around December 22 the Islamist pressure on the 18 Druze villages in the area  intensified (for a detailed map see here ). Reports started to circulate, according to which the inhabitants of the Druze villages had declared their conversion to Islam.  A four page long declaration by sheikhs of the villages was posted on social media by activists connected to ISIS and Jabhat an-Nusra , which may indicate it wa...

Background [i] The Druze community in Idlib province lives in or near the Jabal al-A ʿ la - or Jabal as-Summaq in the north of the province, close to the Turkish border in a rural and relatively isolated environment. These communities are the most northern Druze settlements and also the weakest and politically less important. Druze villages in northern Syria auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen The 17 [ii]  villages are mostly relatively small and situated in a predominately Sunni environment. This unfavourable setting let to mass migration to the Druze centers in  Suwaidaʾ , Mount Lebanon and nowadays Israel, where Halabi (meaning from Aleppo district, to which the area belonged then - Halab in Arabic) is a common family name nowadays. Without a real power base, vulnerable and far away from the Druze centers in Mount Lebanon and later southern Syria, the remaining Druze of Idlib province had to find a way to get along with their...