ICC Note: As authorities in north-east Syria unfairly close Christian schools across the region, Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo worries that the local government will continue to close the remaining Christian institutions in an attempt to remove the Christian presence from the area.

09/06/2018 Syria (Premier.org.uk) – Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo of Hassaké-Nisibi has said Kurdish authorities in north-east Syria are determined to drive out Christians from the region.

The senior church leader has claimed that the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS), the Kurdish self-governing regional authority, has been unfairly closing Christian schools.

Archbishop Hindo told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that the DFNS has targeted 85-year-old Christian institutions because of their refusal to comply with the new Kurdish curriculum.

“The Kurdish officials had assured us that they would not even look at the private [Catholic] schools, but they not only looked at them, they closed them,” he said.

“For years I have been saying that the Kurds are trying to eliminate the Christian presence in this part of Syria.”

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