Christian aid groups vow to stay in Syria
Last month, the pastor of a Kurdish Christian church in northeastern Syria gathered his congregation to decide whether to leave or stay as Turkish forces pressed into the region after US troops had suddenly withdrawn. In an area threatened for years by both the Syrian civil war and the international fight against the Islamic State group, the church was now in the path of a new offensive against the Kurdish militias that Turkey had branded as terrorists.
Just eight families told the pastor they planned to leave, according to Open Doors president and CEO David Curry, whose organization supports persecuted Christians in the region. Most decided to stay.
“The rest are staying to try to be salt and light and love in this community. So that kind of courage is the thing that sticks out to me,” said Curry.
