Assyrian Christians Attacked today by ISIS in Syria’s Khabur River Valley Need Urgent Assistance from Turkey and the International Community.

ISIS launched a major new attack on Saturday, Sunday and Monday March 7, 8 and 9, on Christian villages in Syria’s Khabur River Valley. ISIS armored columns streamed into the area, seizing all villages on the south bank of the Khabur and several villages on the north bank. Tonight, ISIS will try to cross the Khabur (whose water flow dropped sharply today) with large numbers of fighters and heavy weapons – vastly stronger than lightly armed self-defence forces.

Civilians and defenders call out for Turkey to restore water flows in the Khabur river to make crossing the river harder for ISIS.

ISIS first assaulted this area on Sunday, February 22, capturing villages and over 350 civilians. Many were killed or sold as sex slaves. Only 19 were released, and the fate of others is unknown. ISIS seeks to solidify control of the Valley and press on to capture other territories and cities, including the city of Al-Hassaka, where thousands of refugees are sheltering. 1.5 million Assyrian Christians, Kurds, Yezidi refugees and other civilians are at risk. Refugees face a newly closed border with Turkey and lack of shelter, food, or water. They urgently need more international humanitarian and military assistance.

Therefore we repeat our immediate needs:

Lifting embargo on the Jazeera / Gozarto canton.
Official recognition of the cantons Jazeera, Afrin and Kobane, which had been put in place with the will of people.
Official visit to the Jazeera / Gozarto cantons from European Union (there is a safe area around Qamishli).
Military support to Syriac Military Council, Sutoro and Nineveh Plain Forces. Immediate air drop of ammunition in the Khabour region.
Political support to the organisations of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people.
The support from the EU for the minorities (Syriac-Assyrian, Yezidi and Turkmen) in Iraq to become their partner in negotiations with the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government and Iraqi Central Government in achieving a reasonable and needed degree of self-defence and self-government as expressed in the Common Declaration of these three peoples which has been presented in the European Parliament at 19 November.
The ultimate goal of ISIS is enforce a breakthrough towards Iraq, confirming that a defeat of ISIS in Iraq is insufficient if it is not defeated in Syria. Furthermore the ISIS policy of extermination of minorities is the same in Iraq and Syria. Again we call that the Democratic-Self-Administration can become a partner in the war against ISIS as it stands for the same human and democratic values as the EU and US by showing a concrete alternative to both ISIS and Assad.

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