Posted on 02/09/2018 1:39:13 PM PST by WatchungEagle
The Kurdish YPG/Asayesh forces have begun to intensify their ongoing intimidations and threats towards Christians in Northeast Syria. They are now increasingly kidnapping and conscripting teenagers with the intention to send them to the frontline in places like Afrin.
Local Christian sources, fearing for their lives and speaking on condition of anonymity to the World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) (“WCA”), report that they are facing more and more harassments from the Kurdish YPG and Asayesh (security forces).
On Friday, 19 January, the first grave human rights violations of the new year included the abduction of seven Christians; four Armenians and three Arameans (otherwise known as Syriacs). Nevertheless, following intense negotiations, all of them were released except for the 20-year young Aramean, Saliba A., who was snatched on daylight out of his shop in Qamishli by the Asayesh.
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After the threat of ISIS, the current wish of the Arameans is for the nationalist Kurds to leave them, their organizations, schools, churches and their self-defense of Sootoro in peace. The Aramean-led Sootoro even includes Arabs, who are also being seized by the Asayesh and enrolled by the YPG.
Johny Messo, the President of the World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) (“WCA”), strongly condemns the ongoing terrorization by the Kurdish YPG and Asayesh (security forces), stating: “Our people on the ground keep informing us about all sorts of human rights violations, including confiscation of land, intimidations, threats and an increased wave of kidnappings. This must immediately end. We demand from the Kurdish YPG forces to respect Syria’s native Arameans. We further call upon the USA to make this critical message clear to the YPG.”
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(Excerpt) Read more at wca-ngo.org ...
Truth or agit-prop to support Russia/Assad by lumping the YPG in with ISIS w/r/t persecution?
Odd.
Maybe the PKK?
5.56mm
“Truth or agit-prop to support Russia/Assad by lumping the YPG in with ISIS w/r/t persecution?”
I thought it was Turkey that associates Kurds with ISIS.
And, I believe the WCA supports the Alawites, clearly aligning them with Assad and Russia.
Which is where the Kurds should align if they’re smart. Certainly Turkey and the rest of the Sunni world have no use for them.
But, doesn’t Turkey label the Kurds as associated with ISIS just as an excuse to eliminate them?
I don’t know the details of which Kurd group is which, but the Kurds have fought bravely against ISIS. I remember the women’s brigades and the female snipers.
Some Kurd groups, notably PKK, had a reputation of terrorism in Turkey. But most Kurds seemed pretty sane. Certainly, the Kurdish area in northwestern Iraq, around Kirkuk, IIRC, was a lot saner than the rest of that mostly Sunni country.
Someone help me out. I thought the Kurds were friends and tolerant.
I do not believe the article.
“I thought the Kurds were friends and tolerant.”
It is the Middle East. Reach into the basket and pet the friendly scorpion.
I can help, this is 100% Syrian propaganda. Its not even good propaganda as there is no kernel of truth to even taste.
We have boots on the ground and this would never happen.
This narrative would certainly fill some gaps in reporting of events.
They are also the group with the least media presence. Few Christians in the West are interested in what Middle Eastern Christians have to say. When Middle Eastern Christians tried to tell Americans Christians they were being genocided in Syria, Ted Cruz told them to drop dead and the whole neocon media attacked them.
The Christian community in Iraq was destroyed under US military occupation. Why would Syria be any different?
Because we have a different president.
There are differences of opinion among Syriac Christians, just like any other group. Many are/were supportive of the old Assad regime, but most eagerly allied with the Kurdish YPG when it came to liberating their villages from ISIS.
Few of the Arabs are interested in going elsewhere to fight if they don’t have to, except those mercenary types looking to make a career or quick profit in the militias.
Young men (and women) of military age are definitely under scrutiny for military service. Like WWII in the USA, a young man can’t walk the streets without people wondering why he’s not in uniform. It has become common in Syria that young men are drafted/impressed into military service, by whoever rules the area.
It is interesting to note that after these young men were picked up, they were exempted from military service, at the request of their elders.
Syriacs (described here as Arameans) have fought in the same unit with Kurds in the YPG/JPJ since before Kobane (Sep/Oct 2014). The YPG helped some of them save their village from ISIS takeover in the early stages.
They now have enough fighters that they have their own units. Some of them are already in Efrin.
I’m pretty sure that the Syriac Christians don’t all speak Aramaic.
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SyriacMilitaryMFS @SyriacMFS
https://twitter.com/SyriacMFS/status/957884082297430016
Breaking: #Syriac Military Council, MFS will send fighters to the #Afrin front in support of SDF-YPG/J to the defense of the region and populations against Turkey & allied forces. #Syria (more info & statement will follow)
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I am unaware of any Armenian in the YPG/YPJ, but it is possible. They have quite a few foreign fighters.
I’m aware of some conflicts between Chaldean Christians and Assyrian Christians in Iraq. (not all Assyrian Christians are Syriac Christians) I’ve twice stumbled into some of their discussions. The issue is not about religion, but some things in the past, as best as I can tell.
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