Spokesperson for Syriac Military Council Matai Hanna: We will continue to repel the Turkish-backed attacks in Khabur

TEL TAMR, Syria — Amidst the continuous bombardment of the Syriac–Assyrian villages of the Khabur River Valley by Turkey, the Syrian National Army (SNA) — a proxy force trained and funded by Turkey — launched an attack the villages of Timar (Umm al-Keif) and Tal Juma’a in the countryside of Tel Tamr.

Spokesperson for the Syriac Military Council (Mawthbo Folhoyo Suryoyo, MFS) Matai Hanna told SuroyoTV that Turkey and the SNA continue to break the ceasefire agreed to in October 2019 and have intensified their bombardment, targeting civilian homes with heavy weapons.

Hanna stated that the Turkish occupation plan to displace the Syriac–Assyrian people from their land and change the demography of the region. Turkey aims to undermine the values ​​of coexistence that have been formed in North and East Syria and to increase instability, he added.

The Turkish crimes being committed are a repetition of the genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire against the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean), Armenian, Greek, Yezidi, and other peoples in 1915, said Hanna.

Hanna stated that the MFS, with the participation of the Tel Tamr Military Council, were entrusted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to protect the villages of the Syriac–Assyrian people in Khabur and elsewhere in North and East Syria with the aim of preserving cultural and community diversity, as well as coexistence between all components of the region.

He also stressed that their forces succeeded in repelling the recent attempts by the SNA in infiltrate villages in the Tel Tamr countryside.

The fighters of the MFS remain ready to combat any aggression from Turkey and its proxies, Hanna added. “We are ready to sacrifice our lives to protect the region and its residents, as well as liberate the occupied lands and return the displaced to their homes.