James Macintyre
Kurdish militias have "occupied" parts of Assyrian Christian villages in north-east Syria, according to World Watch Monitor (WWM), as fighting continues to re-take the area from Islamic State.
Militias from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have reportedly erected signs in different places in the villages along the Khabour River, warning the area is "dangerous and mined". Assyria TV called this "a trick" to scare Assyrians and justify occupation, WWM said.
A senior Catholic source has been quoted as saying the militias are carrying out acts of violence and intimidation against Assyrian Christians in Hassake, the main city in the north-eastern province that lies close to the Khabour villages.
The Khabour River region in the Hassake province was attacked by ISIS in February 2015.
Some 35 Assyrian villages were ransacked and days later ISIS kidnapped and held over 200 Assyrians hostages.
All of the hostages were eventually released by Islamic State after ransoms were paid. Villages such as Tel Nasri and Tel Goran were caught between the Syrian army and Kurdish militias – both fighting ISIS – and eventually occupied by militias from YPG in 2015.
Last week, a synod of Chaldean Catholic bishops from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, the US, Canada and Australia urged the liberation of areas seized by ISIS and for the displaced to be able to return home.
Chaldeans were among around 120,000 Christians uprooted when ISIS seized Mosul and the Nineveh Plain in Iraq during the summer of 2014.
An ancient branch of Christianity, the Assyrian Church of the East has roots dating back to the 1st century AD. Assyrian Christians speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and have origins in ancient Mesopotamia – a territory which spreads across northern Iraq, north-east Syria and south-eastern Turkey.