Turkey aims at displacing Assyrians from Syria’s Hasakah: Assyrian commander
TEL TAMR, Syria (North Press) – The Turkish attacks on the countryside of Tel Tamr, north of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, aim at displacing Assyrian people from the area, a commander of the Assyrian Khabour Guards said on Tuesday.
Over the past days, the Assyrian villages located on the banks of the al-Khabour River in the northern and eastern countryside of Tel Tamr, have witnessed frequent shelling by the Turkish forces and the affiliated armed opposition factions.
The shelling left damage to the infrastructure and caused the displacement of residents from their homes.
“The situation of the Assyrian villages now is so bad due to Turkish shelling,” spokesman for the Assyrian Khabour Guards, Nabil Warda, told North Press.
“Four Assyrian villages in the area have been completely emptied of their residents because of the Turkish intense bombardment in recent days,” Warda added.
The remaining Christians on the banks of the al-Khabour banks fear that the Turkish state will commit new massacres against them, similar to the Sayfo massacres in 1915, in which the Ottoman Empire targeted the Assyrians, Syriacs, Armenians and Chaldeans before and after the World War I, which led to the killing and displacement of thousands.
“Over the past days, these villages have been bombed by more than 100 artillery and mortar shells. About 60 families have been displaced from their homes,” Warda noted.
The intensive bombardment of the Turkish forces resulted in the destruction of many houses, and caused damage to the church and school of the village of Tel Jum’a, in addition to the damage to the cemetery of Tel Shnan village, according to Warda.
The countryside of Tel Tamr includes about 33 Assyrian villages, five of which were almost fully emptied due to ISIS attacks and their location on the frontlines with the Turkish forces, according to the residents.
Most of the villages on the contact lines with the Turkish forces in the countryside of Tel Tamr, north of Hasakah, have become empty of residents due to the continuous bombardment.