ISIS claims responsibility for murder of Armenian priest and his father in NE Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic State group (ISIS) on Monday claimed responsibility for the gunning down of an Armenian Catholic Priest and his father in the northeast Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, just hours after the shooting took place. 

ISIS claimed Monday afternoon via its Telegram channels to have killed “two Christian priests” in al-Zir village, in the al-Busayrah sub-district of Deir ez-Zor.

Syrian state TV SANA reported the “martyrdom” of Priest Housib Abraham Bidoyan, head of the Armenian Catholic Church in Qamishli, and his father. The two were killed by unidentified gunmen, SANA said, as they travelled southbound from Hasaka province to Deir ez-Zor.

The priest and his father had been on their way to “supervise the restoration” of a church when they were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor.

Rojava Information Center, a volunteer-run monitor with close ties to the ruling Kurdish authorities in north and east Syria, named the priest as Hanna Ibrahim and his father as Hanna Bido.

The Armenian community in Syria, whose current numbers are unknown, are the survivors of the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians in the early twentieth century. Driven into Syria by the notorious “death marches”, many eventually ended up settling in the country. 

A church and memorial named the Armenian Genocide Martyrs’ Memorial stands in Deir ez-Zor.

The church was blown up in 2014. Though its perpetrators were never identified, some blamed ISIS, who held control of most of the province at the time, for the attack. Others have levelled blame at Jabhat al-Nusra, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria. 

Such attacks endangered already vulnerable Christian communities, forcing many to seek refuge abroad.

Rudaw could not verify if the priest had been heading towards restoration efforts at that particular memorial, which continues to lie in ruins.

The al-Busayrah area has seen ISIS sleeper cells ramp up their activities against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their local allies as of late.

The increase mirrors an uptick in ISIS activity across northern Syria in recent months, particularly since Turkey and Turkish-backed forces launched Operation Peace Spring – targeting the SDF and their local allies – early last month.

Turkey began the land phase of its invasion into Kurdish-held territories in northern Syria on October 9. The attack redirected Kurdish force focus from their operations against ISIS sleeper cells in northern Syria – as had been warned by Kurdish leaders in the months before the operation commenced. 

According to the Rojava Information Center, ISIS has claimed 30 attacks in the first ten days of November alone - a 300 percent increase from its activity levels prior to the Turkish invasion.

As of late, US troops, who had initially been pulled out from most SDF-controlled areas, have returned to Deir ez-Zor to protect its oilfields from the reach of ISIS.

With things being calmer on the frontlines since two ceasefire deals - one between Turkey and the US, and another between Turkey and Russia - the SDF has resumed its anti-ISIS operations in the area.

On Monday, DeirEzzor 24, a local news outlet covering the province, reported an SDF-led “extensive security campaign”, backed by the International Coalition, began on November in the town of al-Hawaij, to the south of Busayrah. 

According to the local outlet, an ISIS Emir named Hamam al-Laffi, also known as Abi al-Hareth, was arrested in a dawn raid on November 10 alongside some former group members. 

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