Syria Mission Update

13 January 2025

Syria

Mother and her child doing laundry in Tabqa camp.

Dear all,

Thank you, dear friends, for all your help and support for people all over the world. I’m sending this Syria update out from Burma where we are just graduating new relief teams. We have a full-time team in Syria and have just sent another team to support them.

Displacement and attacks have increased greatly since the fall of the dictator, Bashar al-Assad. In the areas he had controlled, on the western side of the country from Idlib down to Aleppo and Damascus, is the al-Qaeda-originated group, Hayat Tahir Al-Sham (HTS), who, after ousting Assad, have promised a less radical program than al-Qaeda promoted. However, religious minorities are already being threatened and it remains to be seen what this group will do.

In the middle of the country is the Syrian National Army(SNA), who was previously called the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and is supported directly by Turkey. These groups consist of radical Islamic organizations such as ISIS; many of these soldiers even wear the ISIS patch. They’ve already displaced over 300,000 people and killed hundreds. The goal of the SNA is not only getting rid of the Assad regime but getting rid of the Kurds, Christians, and any other minorities. Turkey is supporting and using the SNA, especially to attack the Kurds.

These troops are on a rampage every day, not only killing anyone they think is against their ideals, but also robbing and looting. With Turkish air, artillery, and armor support, they are now attacking the bridge across the Euphrates River that leads to Kobani, as well as the Tishreen Dam. The city of Manbij, which was controlled by the pro-democracy Kurd-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) until earlier in December, was taken by the SNA, who have slaughtered people in the streets. We have already lost one friend there, a man named Eskandar, who was a refugee from Idlib and became one of our coordinators. He was trying to help provide food for 500 people and was shot dead by SNA troops.

The east side of the country, from the Euphrates River to the Iraqi border, is controlled by the SDF. The SDF have been strong allies of the United States in fighting ISIS and they’re grateful for the US troops that are stationed there to support them. The US government and others in the international coalition need to get Turkey to stop the attacks against the Kurds, Christians, and Arabs of northeast Syria. In the middle of this, our teams have been providing help, hope and love in Jesus’ name.

The photos and information below are from our team right now in Syria. Thank you for all of those that have helped them provide life-giving, life-saving assistance, as well as for your prayers.

Thanks, and God bless you.

Dave, family and FBR

Report from our team in the field:

In the wake Bashar al-Assad’s oppressive regime collapse on 8 December 2024, uncertainty about the intentions of the new power in Damascus, Hayat Tahir Al-Sham, along with new attacks on civilian areas by newly-emboldened Turkish-supported SNA brigades, has created a new wave of fear and flight among Syria’s minorities, including the Kurds, Arabs, Christians, Yezidis, and Druze. Families whose situation was already precarious after having fled previous outbreaks of fighting find themselves again on the run, and in winter, when temperatures sometimes dip below freezing.

In response, the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) deployed an augmented relief team that joined the local team members in Syria on 19 December, meeting with local civilian, military, and medical leaders to pray with them, encourage them, and coordinate relief operations. Initially, the team operated in two elements, with a front-lines group providing medical care and medevac to those in the middle of fighting and a support group providing relief to children and families and logistical support to the frontlines group. The teams have now joined to focus on IDPs.

 The FBR team initially met with leaders in Hassaka, Raqqa, and Kobani to encourage and pray with them, as well as learn from them the situation and current needs. They were able to meet with the staff of the Jalabiya Clinic, which is regularly caring for those injured by Turkish air and artillery strikes. The team helped restock the clinic from a list of needed supplies given them by the staff. On Christmas Eve, they visited several schools in Raqqa that are now providing shelter for new IDP families from the Shahaba area. They distributed winter jackets and snacks to the children currently living there.

The team also visited an IDP camp at Tabqa, where they met a mother who had lost two sons in the last decade of war in Syria. One was killed in the 2018 attacks of the Turks on Afrin in northwest Syria. The second, the youngest, was lost in the midst of the hasty flight to escape recent attacks of the SNA in November. The team gave this distraught mother financial support to help her provide for herself and her grandson.

In all, the team treated and evacuated 18 casualties from the frontlines area, many of these under drone threat from Turkish drones. More than $7000 of medical supplies was provided to two clinics, one at Sirin and one at Jalabiya. The team visited eight different schools where IDPs are sheltering, providing 300 jackets for children along with programs and snacks.

The situation in Syria is volatile. With the downfall of Assad, a great oppressor has been defeated. We pray that this will open up a space for freedom and peace in Syria. As we are able, we will provide relief, medical care, and encouragement to our Syrian friends in this time of change and new challenges. Our team is small but brings the message – from you all! – that there are many others standing behind it who love the people of Syria and share their aspirations for freedom and their desires to live in peace with their families.

Thank you for being in this with us, in Syria, Burma, and all over the world.

Thank you and God bless,

Free Burma Rangers

In Tabqa IDP camp at a fuel distribution.
Kobanê, a symbol of resistance against ISIS, now faces an uncertain future. In the background, the Turkish border serves as a constant reminder of the looming threat of another invasion. This city, renowned for its unprecedented defense, stands at a crossroads once again, as attacks and threats from Turkey and its mercenaries continue to escalate.
Meeting with Abu Omar from Nothern Brigade.
In 2018, they were forced to flee their home in Afrin due to the Turkish invasion and occupation. They initially found refuge in the Al-Shahba camp, but in late November 2024, their family was displaced again when Turkish-backed Islamist militias of the Syrian National Army (SNA), including factions formerly part of the Free Syrian Army, launched an offensive in northern Syria, advancing toward Aleppo and Damascus. These groups brutally targeted minorities and continue to commit war crimes to this day. After a brief stay in the Tabqa camp, they eventually sought shelter in Raqga, where they now live – like many others – in a school repurposed as an emergency shelter.