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SDF officials deny ceasefire deal to stop fighting near Tal Tamir

SDF officials deny ceasefire deal to stop fighting near Tal Tamir
SDF officials deny ceasefire deal to stop fighting near Tal Tamir

2019-11-17 00:00:00 - Source: kurdistan 24

Dani Ellis, a 29-year-old British citizen based in Syria who volunteered to help the Kurds, told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday that there are constant attacks, including from drones, mortars, and gunfire by the Turkish-backed opposition toward the SDF, Syrian government forces, and the local Syriac Military Council (MFS).

“MFS continues to hold their lines at the moment but has not been seriously challenged by large assaults yet,” Ellis said. “It is mostly skirmishes.”

Nevertheless, she noted that most shops in Tal Tamir remain open and said many villages host refugees from Serekaniye and even Afrin.

Aram Hanna, a member of the MFS General Command, told Kurdistan 24 that there were clashes on Saturday in the Arisha and Daodia villages near Tel Tawil.

Hanna warned that the clashes are a danger for the remaining Christian minority in the area, “since the enemy is too close to the first Assyrian village called Tel Tawil.”

He also confirmed that some civilians fled to Hasakah city, but “normal life continues [in Tal Tamir].”

Turkish-backed forces have been attacking villages near the Khabur River that provided refuge for Assyrian Christians who fled genocide in Turkey over 100 years ago.

In February 2015, villages in Tal Tamir faced numerous attacks from the so-called Islamic State, displacing hundreds. The Christians in the area now fear that a similar experience could be repeated.

Mazloum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the SDF, tweeted on Saturday that the Turkish attacks “threaten the remaining Christian genocide-survivors near Tal Tamir.”

“We aimed to build a system [of] tolerance for anyone regardless [of] ethnicity, religion, [and] nationality, but Turkey won’t accept this.”





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