11/11/2019 Syria (International Christian Concern) – A number of Syrian Christians living in villages throughout the Tal Tamir / Khabour area have evacuated, according to various local news sources. For example, it is reported that only one Christian family remains in the Tal Cedaya village, with 20 Christian families having evacuated. Of the 33 Christian villages in the Tal Tamir / Khabour region, only 18 remain populated with a handful of families.
Meanwhile, local militias report having spent the weekend fending off yet another militant attack led by Turkish Sponsored Organizations (TSOs) against Tal Tamir. Turkish sponsored attacks have been ongoing in this region, and include the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, medics, and other humanitarian aid conveys. Tal Tamir is located on the border of the proposed safe zone (just 2 kilometers outside of the border) that Turkey is using to justify their military invasion. The possible use of chemical weapons by Turkey was reported in this area last month.
Turkey’s invasion of Syria was prompted by an abrupt withdrawal of American troops in the north, who were serving as a security buffer. Turkey claims it needs a so-called safe zone to secure its southern border from the PKK, a Kurdish led militia recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. As part of Turkey’s establishment of the safe zone, which is supposed to be 30 kilometers deep into northern Syria, the government has used TSO-jihadists to enact ethnic and religious cleansing. The ancestors of the Christian villages in this area survived the 1915 genocide committed by Turkey, and more recently survived the genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State.
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