AP

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ibrahim Raisi, in late July seeking a ‘green light’ to re-invade northern Syria. 

 The US, Iran and Russia all agree that any Turkish aggression in northern Syria would enable a revival of Islamic State. Frustrated but not deterred, Erdogan vowed to carry out the invasion anyway, saying he doesn’t need anyone’s permission to advance Turkey’s interests. Analysts suspect Turkey is preparing to invade in early September. Kurds, Assyrian and Armenian Christians, and the Syrian Arab Army are preparing for that eventuality. 

In the north-west, Aleppo would be gravely imperilled. In the north-east, Christians across the entire Jazira region (the largest and most populous part of Hasakah Governorate) would be imperilled. After 10 years of war against the US-backed Sunni Axis, Islamic State, the Turkish state and its jihadist proxies, a remnant of Christians remains in the north. Determined to maintain the Christian presence there, they desperately do not want to be erased from the map. However, as Nabil Warda of the Khabour Guards warns: “The Turkish occupation threatens the existence of the Assyrian people.” The Christians will resist to their last breath. Please pray it does not come to that.

Elizabeth Kendal for the Religious Liberty Bulletin