Syrian Kurds Repel Islamic State Weekend Attack on Christian Villages

A Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighter comes down from a hill overlooking the Assyrian village of Tel Jumaa, north of Tel Tamr town last week in an area of northeastern Syria emerging as a new front in the battle against Islamic State (REUTERS) BEIRUT -- U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds repulsed a fresh assault by Islamic State on a cluster of Christian villages in northeastern Syria, according to residents and officials in the area. The battles in Hasakah province over the weekend have residents fearing this region, which protrudes like a thumb into neighboring Iraq and Turkey, could become the scene of a new multi-front and protracted standoff between the extremist group and the Kurds. In echoes of the conflict in neighboring Iraq, Christians and other minorities in northeastern Syria are bearing the brunt of the widening battle between Kurds and Islamic State. Many believe they only have two choices: leave or join the Kurds in the fight. "We are being trampled on by the warring sides," said a 55-year-old Assyrian Christian engineer and member of a local charity in Hasakah. He asked to be identified by the nickname Abu Rami for security reasons. "We feel we are being pulled from our roots," he added. The attacks on Christians in the area, which started on Feb. 23, are Islamic State's retaliation for recent battlefield setbacks, according to local residents and officials and Raidor Khalil, a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish militia that successfully defended the border city of Kobani from an onslaught by the militant group. "For sure it's connected," said Mr. Khalil, who represents the People's Protection Units, or YPG. In late February, YPG routed Islamic State from the strategic northeastern Syrian town of Tal Hamees near the Iraqi border. The previous month, YPG declared victory over Islamic State after four months of grinding warfare in Kobani on Syria's northern border with Turkey. In both instances, the U.S.-led international coalition played a pivotal role in supporting the YPG with an intensive campaign of airstrikes as well as weapons and ammunition. The Kurds control most of the northern section of oil-rich Hasakah and have already established their own de facto self-rule zone there. The latest attack by Islamic State came in the early hours of Saturday, according to residents and officials. It targeted three villages on the left bank of the Khabur River where the Kurdish-led force, including some Christian fighters, was hunkered down after Islamic State's capture two weeks ago of about a dozen Assyrian Christian villages on the river's opposite bank. They said skirmishes were ongoing Sunday following heavy clashes throughout Saturday, when U.S. warplanes aided the Kurdish-led force by striking Islamic State positions. Some Christians have joined forces with the Kurdish militia, particularly after the Feb. 23 Islamic State attack on the area which surrounds the town of Tal Tamr in western Hasakah province. Homes were set ablaze, several churches were blown up and Islamic State abducted more than 250 villagers including women and children in the initial attack. The villages are inhabited mainly by Assyrians, descendants of one of the Middle East's principal civilizations who later converted to Christianity. Mr. Khalil, the YPG spokesman, said clashes are now under way on two fronts in Hasakah and Islamic State has brought significant reinforcements to both areas. The first one is on the east side around Tal Hamees and the town of Tal Brak, close to the Iraqi border. The second one is around the Assyrian Christian villages around Tal Tamr on the west side of the province "The U.S.-led coalition played a major and vital role in the capture of Tal Hamees and Tal Brak," he said. "There was a high level of coordination." He added that the U.S.-led coalition also carried out airstrikes around Tal Tamr on Saturday. Assyrian community leaders speaking by telephone from inside Hasakah on Sunday said many Christians are leaving the province and Syria altogether and heading to neighboring Lebanon as first stop. Abu Rami, the engineer, and others like him believe they are the most vulnerable community in a larger battle under way between the Kurds and Islamic State for control of territory and natural resources in northeast Syria. Before the latest attacks, inhabitants of the Assyrian Christian villages on the west bank of the Khabur had forged an uneasy and tenuous accommodation with Islamic State which holds sway in most of the southern section of Hasakah. The deal was that Christians would be left alone as long as they didn't support the Kurds, according to Hasakah residents. But things began to change immediately after Islamic State's defeat in Kobani. In early February, the radical fighters came to the Christian villages demanding that crucifixes be removed from the interior and exterior of churches as well as tombstones at local cemeteries. Church leaders complied and negotiations were also under way with Islamic State for these villages to pay a tribute tax paid by non-Muslims. But in mid-February, Kurdish fighters launched a major offensive against Islamic State in Tal Hamees on the eastern side of Hasakah province with the backing of U.S. airstrikes. Islamic State retaliated by attacking the Christian villages on the province's west side on Feb. 23, accusing Christians of collaborating with Kurds in Tal Hamees. Most of the inhabitants fled to Kurdish-controlled parts of the province. But Islamic State managed to capture more than 250 villagers including some 86 women and 39 children, according to a statement on Sunday by the Sweden-based Assyrian Network for Human Rights. On Feb. 28, Kurds captured Tal Hamees and killed nearly 250 Islamic State militants--most of them local Arabs who had joined the militant group, according to a senior YPG leader. They also imprisoned an unspecified number of Islamic State fighters including commanders. Elizabeth Gawria, a Syriac Christian and senior official in the Kurdish-dominated self rule area in northeast Syria, urged the U.S. and Europe to offer more military and political support for such an entity. "Help us to remain in our land, strengthen us," appealed Ms. Gawria.