Kurds and Assyrians/Aramaeans are in great danger!

According to information by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the Islamic extremists of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) are apparently preparing a large-scale offensive in the north-east of Syria. "There are many indications that the Islamists will try to gain control over the multi-ethnic and multi-religious city of al-Hasakah," said the STP's Middle East Consultant, Kamal Sido, in Goettingen on Friday. "The Syrian army will not be able or willing to defend the civilians living in the city." The people are facing the same fate as in Mosul in northern Iraq, where all Christians, Yazidis, Sunni Shiites and many Kurds and Arabs were expelled. Most of the refugees have found shelter in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan.

Sido stated that Kurdish and Christian militias are trying to protect the civilian population in al-Hasakah and the other predominantly Kurdish-populated areas in northern and north-western Syria from being attacked by radical Islamists. However, ISIS managed to capture weapons and heavy equipment in Iraq and is therefore by far better equipped than the Kurdish militias. ISIS boasts about having killed 1,500 Iraqis in the recently occupied areas and has declared the Christians, Kurds and Shiites to be their "arch-enemies". Considering the way ISIS has been acting so far, the worst must be feared for the civilian population.

The humanitarian situation for the civilians in al-Hasakah has already been disastrous for the last two years. Drinking water, food, electricity and gas are scarce. Islamists have repeatedly attacked Kurdish Muslims or Yazidis as well as Christians. In the region, kidnappings, car bombs and suicide attacks are quite frequent.

So far, Al-Hasakah was a fairly safe haven for many Christians, for example from the citiy of Deir ez-Zor, further south, where hundreds of Christian families lived before they were expelled. Currently, there are at least 200,000 people living al-Hasakah – most of them Kurds, Assyrians/Aramaeans, Syrians, Armenians and Arabs. The city and the eponymous Syrian province are home to many Christians, Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean Catholic and Armenians – and, in the past, there were also many Christian refugees from Iraq and Turkey. "Now, all the Christians in al-Hasakah are living in fear and despair," said Sido. "The city is threatened by an end to Christianity, like in Mosul."

Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East Consultant, is available for further questions: +49 551 499 06 18 or nahost@gfbv.de.

Header Photo: Kurdish children in Northern Syria are afraid of forced displacement © Sermîn Faki