Billboard of martyr Said Abdel-Ahad erected in Hasakah, Syria

HASAKAH, Syria — Amid wide participation from Syriac–Assyrian Martyrs’ Families Foundation, a billboard of martyr Said Abdel-Ahad, nom de guerre Athro, was placed in the Nasirah neighborhood of Hasakah, Syria.

In a statement to SyriacPress, Jamil Bahho Oussi, a member of the Syriac–Assyrian Martyrs’ Families Foundation said that, “The Nasirah neighborhood is martyr Athro’s birthplace. We placed his picture here to remember him and honor his great sacrifice.” This billboard was placed so that the sacrifices of Syriac–Assyrian Martyrs would be shown to the whole world and remain immortal in our hearts, added Oussi.

The father of martyr Athro told SyriacPress that placing his son’s picture in Hasakah not only symbolizes his son’s martyrdom, but also all Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) martyrs, and called on the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people to stay in their homeland and resist their presence.

During the event, the father of martyr Athro reminisced, “My son used to say that he would become a martyr for the sake of his homeland, and this is what really happened during the 2015 Khabur resistance,” his voice indicating that he and the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people are proud of martyr Athro.

Athro was martyred in defense of the Syriac–Assyrian people and land in the 2015 Khabur resistance during clashes with the Islamic State (ISIS) in the village of Rihaniya. Although so far unsuccessful, attempts are being made to make the area of the Khabur River Valley a separate administrative canton for the Suraye people within the structures of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA).