SYRIA: On anniversary of invasion of Khabur, Syriac Union Party (SUP) calls on all people of Syria to stand together

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — The Media Office of the Syriac Union Party (SUP) in Syria issued a statement on Tuesday marking the occasion of the 6th anniversary of the barbaric attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) on the Syriac–Assyrian villages of the Khabur River Valley centered around the town of Tel Tamr. The fighting led to the displacement of thousands and the capture of hundreds and the destruction of villages, homes, churches, and infrastructure.

The statement recalled the resistance of the Syriac Military Council (Mawtbo Fulḥoyo Suryoyo, MFS) which helped stop the ISIS advance and rid the Khabur Valley of extremists.

The SUP called for regional and international cooperation in rebuilding the villages of the Khabur to enable people to return to their villages, as most of them are displaced or refugees from neighboring countries and are waiting to return. Currently, however, the Khabur is being subjected to further destruction at the hands of Turkey and its Syrian National Army (SNA) proxies.

In order to ensure the stability of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people and prevent demographic change, stated the SUP, our party and all parties and institutions of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people must do more to establish their full rights, uphold their land, and work across political boundaries to reach a political solution in Syria that will achieve freedom and equality within a unified, decentralized, and pluralistic Syria.

In addition to releasing a statement of its own, the Syriac Military Council commemorated the tragedy at the Syriac–Assyrian Martyrs’ Cemetery in Hasakah, in the presence of the institutions of Bethnahrin National Council and the public.

The commemoration began with a minute of silence for the souls of martyrs. Member of the MFS leadership Matai Hanna delivered a speech in remembrance of the fallen and praising the fighters of the MFS.

“All the practices pursued by extremist terrorist organizations have not weakened our resolve, but have increased our determination to be an impregnable bulwark in the embodiment of resistance, which the Syriac Military Council has written with its heroism,” said Hanna. “MFS has engraved its name and the names of our martyrs in history.”

Hanna stressed that the struggle to defeat terrorism and protect the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people continues.

Ward Korkis of the Syriac Security Forces (Sutoro) followed, stating that the tragedy that the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people suffered in Khabur could not break their will, and it constituted an additional reason to struggle in mutual self-defense with the rest of the peoples of the region to achieve their goals. The liberation of Khabur by the hands of the Syriac Military Council, Peoples’ Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG), and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirms the unity of the peoples of the region against all terrorist organizations and agressors, said Korkis.

A military parade was then held by the Syriac Military Council, Sutoro, and the Bethnahrin Women’s Protection Forces (HSNB).

At the end of the event, candles were lit in front of the martyrs’ shrines.