A call for help from Yazidis of Syria
Yazidis in Syria: "Extreme opposition groups are forcing us to accept Islam at gunpoint.
The head of the Yazidi organization Raise Your Voice, Hosam Abdullah, confirms that Syrian extremist groups are forcing Yazidis in the city of Afrin and its districts to adopt Islam.
"During the last period, the demolition of four Yazidi temples and Yazidi cemeteries by these groups has been documented. A certain identity is being controlled and imposed, the heritage and history of these areas, where Yazidi population is indigenous, is being erased," explains Hosam Abdullah.
Two weeks ago, radical Islamists made a video clip of two Yazidi male clerics announcing their conversion to Islam.
This scene provoked the anger of Yazidis of Syria, everyone is well aware that these men were forced at gunpoint to convert to Islam. Yazidis fear being massacred in light of the continuation of what is happening; they fear being forcibly Islamized, in addition to the fear of having their land and property seized and their temples in and around Afrin being destroyed.
According to Yazidi residents, there are checkpoints everywhere in the city, the city is occupied by radical gangs, they occasionally arrest Yazidi population on charges of espionage or simply for being Yazidi.
In Yazidi villages the situation is even worse, the residents are not allowed out of the village, and women don't go out for months for fear of being kidnapped. People are shot in the street for insubordination.
Unofficial statistics obtained by Raise Your Voice show that the number of Yazidis in Afrin before it was taken over by Syrian opposition groups (March 2018) was over 25,000, while now only 3,500 remain.
The city of Afrin and its surroundings are now under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Salafist-jihadist group that was announced to have been formed in 2017 from an alliance of a group of armed extremist Syrian groups and organizations. The former al-Nusra Front is its most serious problem.
Yazidis and other minorities in Syria are calling for international protection of their territories and protection from threats and attacks from extremist groups affiliated with the Syrian opposition and from militias loyal to Iran.
Dilshad Hussein
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyazidis #syriayazidis
A call for help from Yazidis of Syria
Yazidis in Syria: "Extreme opposition groups are forcing us to accept Islam at gunpoint.
The head of the Yazidi organization Raise Your Voice, Hosam Abdullah, confirms that Syrian extremist groups are forcing Yazidis in the city of Afrin and its districts to adopt Islam.
"During the last period, the demolition of four Yazidi temples and Yazidi cemeteries by these groups has been documented. A certain identity is being controlled and imposed, the heritage and history of these areas, where Yazidi population is indigenous, is being erased," explains Hosam Abdullah.
Two weeks ago, radical Islamists made a video clip of two Yazidi male clerics announcing their conversion to Islam.
This scene provoked the anger of Yazidis of Syria, everyone is well aware that these men were forced at gunpoint to convert to Islam. Yazidis fear being massacred in light of the continuation of what is happening; they fear being forcibly Islamized, in addition to the fear of having their land and property seized and their temples in and around Afrin being destroyed.
According to Yazidi residents, there are checkpoints everywhere in the city, the city is occupied by radical gangs, they occasionally arrest Yazidi population on charges of espionage or simply for being Yazidi.
In Yazidi villages the situation is even worse, the residents are not allowed out of the village, and women don't go out for months for fear of being kidnapped. People are shot in the street for insubordination.
Unofficial statistics obtained by Raise Your Voice show that the number of Yazidis in Afrin before it was taken over by Syrian opposition groups (March 2018) was over 25,000, while now only 3,500 remain.
The city of Afrin and its surroundings are now under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Salafist-jihadist group that was announced to have been formed in 2017 from an alliance of a group of armed extremist Syrian groups and organizations. The former al-Nusra Front is its most serious problem.
Yazidis and other minorities in Syria are calling for international protection of their territories and protection from threats and attacks from extremist groups affiliated with the Syrian opposition and from militias loyal to Iran.
Dilshad Hussein
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyazidis #syriayazidis
