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The Syriac Orthodox Church, also known as West Syriac Church or West Syrian Church, officially known as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and informally as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox church that branched from the Church of Antioch. The bishop of Antioch, known as the patriarch, heads the church and possesses apostolic succession through Saint Peter, according to sacred tradition. The church upholds Miaphysite doctrine in Christology, and employs the Liturgy of Saint James, associated with James the Just. Classical Syriac is the official and liturgical language of the church.
Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the ninth most-populous city in Syria and the second-largest in Al-Hasakah Governorate after Al-Hasakah. Qamishli has traditionally been a Christian Assyrian majority city, but is now predominantly populated by Kurds with large numbers of Arabs and Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians. It is 680 kilometres (420 mi) northeast of Damascus.
Assyrians in Syria also known as Syriacs are an ethnic and linguistic minority that are indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia, the north-eastern half of Syria. Syrian-Assyrians are people of Assyrian descent living in Syria, and those in the Assyrian diaspora who are of Syrian-Assyrian heritage.
The Assyrian homeland, Assyria, refers to the homeland of the Assyrian people within which Assyrian civilisation developed, located in their indigenous Upper Mesopotamia. The territory that forms the Assyrian homeland is, similarly to the rest of Mesopotamia, currently divided between present-day Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria. In Iran, the Urmia Plain forms a thin margin of the ancestral Assyrian homeland in the north-west, and the only section of the Assyrian homeland beyond the Mesopotamian region. The majority of Assyrians in Iran currently reside in the capital city, Tehran.
Christianity in Syria has among the oldest Christian communities on Earth, dating back to the first century AD, and has been described as a "cradle of Christianity". With its roots in the traditions of St. Paul the Apostle and St. Peter the Apostle, Syria quickly became a major center of early Christianity and produced many significant theologians and church leaders. Of the 325 bishops who took part in the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD, twenty were from Syria. Over the centuries, Syrian Christians have played a vital role in shaping Christian thought and practice, contributing to the development of various liturgical traditions, monastic movements, and theological schools. St. Paul the Apostle famously converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus, and Syria has produced three Popes: Pope Anicetus, Pope Sergius I (687-701), and Pope Gregory III. Their legacy includes the establishment of some of the most ancient churches, monasteries, and pilgrimage sites, such as the 5th century remains of the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites, Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery, and the Cathedral of Constantine and Helen.
Al-Hasakah is the capital city of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, in the northeastern corner of Syria. With a 2023 estimated population of 422,445 Al-Hasakah is predominantly populated by Arabs with large numbers of Kurds, Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians and Chechens. Al-Hasakah is 80 kilometres south of the city of Qamishli. The Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates River, flows west–east through the city. The Jaghjagh River flows into the Khabur from the north at Al-Hasakah. The city is controlled by the AANES.
Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO) (Syriac: ܡܛܟܣܬܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܬܐ ܕܝܡܩܪܛܝܬܐ; Arabic: المنظمة الآثورية الديمقراطية), also known as "Mtakasta/Mtakasto", is an Assyrian political party based in Syria. Founded in 1957, it is the oldest Assyrian political party in Syria, and was established as a national, political and democratic movement with the objectives of safeguarding the existence of the Assyrian people, as well as the realization of their legitimate national aspirations (political, cultural, administrative) in their historic homeland.
According to the most recent government statistics, 97% of the population of Iraq was Muslim in 2010 ; the constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the country.
Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah, is a Syriac Catholic monastery in northern Iraq in the village Khidr Ilyas close to the town of Beth Khdeda. The tomb of Mar Benham was heavily damaged on March 19, 2015, by the Islamic State, and the exterior murals were desecrated in all of the monastery's buildings. Repair work restoring the monastery and the tomb of Mar Behnam to its pre-ISIS condition was completed by early December 2018.
Syriac Union Party in Syria is a secular Assyrian political party in Syria that represents the interests of Assyrians in Syria and is committed to the Dawronoye modernization ideology. Established on 1 October 2005, since the start of the Syrian Civil War it has positioned itself on the side of secular, democratic, socialist and federalist Kurdish forces in Rojava, skeptical of both the Ba'athist Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad and the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
The Syriac Military Council is an Assyrian military organisation in Syria, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The establishment of the organisation was announced on 8 January 2013. According to the Syriac Military Council, the goal of the organisation is to stand up for the national rights of and to protect Assyrians in Syria. It operates mostly in the densely populated Assyrian areas of Al-Hasakah Governorate, and is affiliated to the Syriac Union Party.
The Gozarto Protection Forces and Sootoro, united as one organisation, were a regional militia based in Qamishli, Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria, composed of members of the local ethnic Assyrian and some Armenian communities, founded after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011. Sootoro claimed to be affiliated with the Civil Peace Committee for Syriac Orthodox. The Qamishli Sootoro was aligned with the Ba'athist government of Bashar al-Assad.
The persecution of Christians by the Islamic State involves the systematic mass murder of Christian minorities, within the regions of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria controlled by the Islamic extremist group Islamic State. Persecution of Christian minorities climaxed following the Syrian civil war and later by its spillover but has since intensified further. Christians have been subjected to massacres, forced conversions, rape, sexual slavery, and the systematic destruction of their historical sites, churches and other places of worship.
The Jazira Region, formerly Jazira Canton, is the largest of the three original regions of the de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). As part of the ongoing Rojava conflict, its democratic autonomy was officially declared on 21 January 2014. The region is in the Al-Hasakah Governorate of Syria.
The Women's Protection Units or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil war. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of Rojava, and is closely affiliated with the male-led YPG. While the YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern Syria.
The condition of human rights in the territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) is considered to be among the worst in the world. The Islamic State's policies included acts of genocide, torture and slavery. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) stated in November 2014 that the Islamic State "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey". Many Islamic State actions of extreme criminality, terror, recruitment and other activities have been documented in the Middle East.
The Monastery of St. Elian is a Syriac Catholic monastery near the town of Al-Qaryatayn, along a trade route between the two major cities of Palmyra and Damascus in the Homs Governorate of central Syria. It was destroyed on 21 August 2015 by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, whose acts of terror in the Syrian Civil War include widespread vandalism and violence against non-Salafists and historical heritage. St. Elian Monastery housed a 5th-century tomb and served as a major pilgrimage site, particularly to those seeking a cure for bodily ailments. Parts of the monastery, including the foundations, were 1,500 years old.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The SDF is allied to and supplied by the United States–led CJTF–OIR international alliance. Founded on 10 October 2015, the SDF claims that its mission is fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalized Syria. The SDF is opposed by Turkey, which claims the group has direct links to the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, and some other countries.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is a de facto autonomous region of Syria that emerged from 2012 onwards during the Syrian civil war and in particular the Rojava conflict. The current administration emphasises gender equality and pluralistic tolerance for religious and cultural diversity.
A number of Christian militias in Iraq and Syria have been formed since the start of the Syrian Civil War and in the 2013-2017 War. The militias are composed of fighters mainly from the Assyrian but also include Arab and Armenian Christian communities in Syria, and Assyrians in Iraq have formed militias in the north to protect Assyrian communities, towns and villages in the Assyrian homeland and Nineveh Plains. Some foreign Christian fighters from the Western world have also joined these militias.
References
- 1 2 "Democracy is "Radical" in Northern Syria". Inter Press Service. 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
- ↑ "Kurds carve out their Syrian statelet". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
- ↑ "Asya Abdulla: Investigation Continues on ISIS's Use of Chemical Weapons — Zaniyar Omrani, Kobani". ekurd.net. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
- ↑ "Meet the Christian Soldiers Fighting for Their Lives Against ISIS". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
- ↑ MacDiarmid, Campbell (5 July 2015). "YPG Kurdish fighters' success against Islamic State makes Turkey nervous". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2023-03-16.