Christian forces in North and East Syria have played a major role in war against ISIS, experts told Voice of America

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — Commenting on the Turkish attack that targeted the Syriac Security Forces (Sutoro) in Dayrik (Malikiyah / Derik), Farhad Shami, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stated to Voice of America (VOA) that the Democratic Autonomous Administration was established in 2014, and then the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were established in 2015, and that the Syriac Security Forces (Sutoro) were the first to join the SDF, because the Syriac people see themselves as real partners in governing and protecting this part of Syria.

Kurdish experts and officials say that the Sutoro played a major role in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Christian representation within the SDF is an important indicator of the diversity of North and East Syria and its independent Administration.

“The Syriac Security Forces (Sutoro) demonstrated heroism in 2015 when they fought ISIS and prevented a massacre of Christians in the Khabur River Valley,” said Myles B. Caggins III, nonresident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute and former spokesperson for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

He declared that the U.S. forces trained and advised the forces of the Syriac Military Council (Mawtbo Fulhoyo Suryoyo, MFS).

“It is a tragedy that America’s partners are unjustly killed,” he added.

Amy Austin Holmes, a research professor at George Washington University, said Syrian Christian armed groups and their Kurdish allies don’t pose a threat to Turkey.

“Not only are they not a threat to Turkey, but they actually provide security to Turkey because they defeated ISIS and they protect Turkey’s southern border from other threats,” she told VOA.