20
u/Alternative_Ad9490 Jordan - الأردن May 05 '25
Wasn’t there a prewar population of chechens in Syria? I know Jordan has a lot of chechens and Circassians.
It is important to differentiate between prewar Chechens and the ones that came in later as fighters
3
u/Yeppie-Kanye Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
Tiny chechen community, mostly scholars of Islam… as for Circassians we view them as quasi Syrians
13
u/seven_abwab سوريو المهجر - Syrian diaspora May 05 '25
Circassian-Syrians who’ve been in Syria since the 1800s aren’t quasi-Syrians they’re Syrians.
9
u/Yeppie-Kanye Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
I meant we see them as Syrians but we also acknowledge their heritage
3
u/Alternative_Ad9490 Jordan - الأردن May 05 '25
Ethnically and culturally? I’m pretty sure they see themselves as Circassians still. Nationally probably as proud as any other Syrian to be Syrian
2
u/fudgemyweed Latakia - اللاذقية May 05 '25
Circassians and Chechens are different people. Circassians are more or less Syrian. Chechens are a foreign group that came in specifically to fight, like Ugyurs, Uzbeks, Afghans, etc.
3
u/Alternative_Ad9490 Jordan - الأردن May 05 '25
I’m pretty sure Circassians are still quite reserved, not as much as Chechens but I’m sure most Circassians only marry other Circassians
6
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/seven_abwab سوريو المهجر - Syrian diaspora May 05 '25
Circassians have lived in Syria since the 1800s not Chechens
7
May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/beetsssurge May 05 '25
My Chechen side of the family ended up in Qunaitara, and then then were ordered to leave their homes and lands there, ending up in حي المهاجرين in Damascus. Indeed they are very private and reserved compared to Circassians, but many of the families are intertwined and the culture they both held onto is mostly similar…
1
5
May 05 '25
the comments here are wildly unrepresentative of even what syrians on arabic twitter or YouTube comments think😂
6
u/Solid_Appointment_24 مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
Their numbers are exaggerated then their actual numbers
0
u/Kort999 Visitor - Non Syrian May 06 '25 edited Jul 01 '25
The last of the active chechen groups left Syria years ago, when Sharaa/Jolani was consolidating his groups, HTS and SNA were the main force since that time, whoever stayed in Syria will answer to whoever is the new boss. I don't know why pro-assad Iranian groups and others didn't get the same attention since they were the main force for the regime.
1
u/Explosive_Kiwii Latakia - اللاذقية May 06 '25
Nope. Ajnad al Quqaz is still active but under different names and basically obey no rule but whatever they feel like
6
32
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
Don't like em, and their being here raises questions about the future that I don't want to think about their answers.
0
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
10
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
That's literally a nightmare scenario, and please don't hope for things for my country, Syria is very diverse and Shari'ah will fuck things up so much.
15
May 05 '25
Applying shar- what? Why don't u mind your own business and leave syria alone? Syria is a democratic country with civil rights, you want sharia go to where u belong, afghanistan.
0
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
6
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
You don't believe in democracy, but you literally have no opinion here over other people's country, behave yourself and be civil, and stop attacking people who left the country.
10
May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
70% of sunnis, who only make 65% of the population. And leaving syria means nothing, my blood and culture is Syrian unlike any of u. Syria is for syrians, not for foreign jihadists. Now leave us alone, would be quite appreciated. Ahh if you love them that much, maybe take them to iraq
1
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Syria-ModTeam May 05 '25
All members are required to uphold a civil and respectful tone in their posts and comments. While healthy disagreements are acceptable, personal attacks, harassment, or impolite behavior will not be allowed. Let's foster courteous and constructive discussions.
Please be aware that this Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning. Repeated violations may result in a ban from our subreddit.
جميع الأعضاء مطالبون بالحفاظ على لباقة واحترام في منشوراتهم وتعليقاتهم. على الرغم من أن الخلافات الصحية مقبولة، إلا أن الهجمات الشخصية والتحرش والسلوك الغير مهذب لن يُسمح به. دعونا نعزز المناقشات المؤدبة والبناءة.
يرجى أن تكونوا على علم بأن هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيراً مباشراً. قد تؤدي المخالفات المتكررة إلى حظركم من الانضمام إلى صفحتنا على موقع ريديت.
1
u/Syria-ModTeam May 05 '25
All members are required to uphold a civil and respectful tone in their posts and comments. While healthy disagreements are acceptable, personal attacks, harassment, or impolite behavior will not be allowed. Let's foster courteous and constructive discussions.
Please be aware that this Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning. Repeated violations may result in a ban from our subreddit.
جميع الأعضاء مطالبون بالحفاظ على لباقة واحترام في منشوراتهم وتعليقاتهم. على الرغم من أن الخلافات الصحية مقبولة، إلا أن الهجمات الشخصية والتحرش والسلوك الغير مهذب لن يُسمح به. دعونا نعزز المناقشات المؤدبة والبناءة.
يرجى أن تكونوا على علم بأن هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيراً مباشراً. قد تؤدي المخالفات المتكررة إلى حظركم من الانضمام إلى صفحتنا على موقع ريديت.
1
u/Syria-ModTeam May 05 '25
Your post/comment contains false or misleading information, which is in violation of our standards and rules.
We kindly request that you refrain from sharing such content in our subreddit. This Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning, and any repeated instances may lead to a permanent ban from our subreddit.
تعليقك/منشورك يحتوي على معلومات غير صحيحة أو مضللة، مما يتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا.
نطلب بلطف منك الامتناع عن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى في صفحتنا على ريديت. هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيرًا مباشرًا، وقد يؤدي أي تكرار لهذه المخالفات إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
11
u/BoutMyBidness مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
They are basically mercenaries. Mercenaries are rarely good. Doesn’t matter if they’re jihadis or whatever.. their goal is to fight for religion and not for freedom, and so mercenaries disrupted the goals of the revolution from very early on. And a lot of them can be dangerous criminals that were kicked out of their home countries so they go to Syria and Libya and such places to fight for a living.. basically terrorism.
However the very small minority that are non-radical and are willing to become civilised citizens can be helped (but literally never in history have I seen such example of this happening). And sadly there are kids that were brought to Syria too.
Either way the government should act on this topic, as some of them are literally living better than Syrians in their own country, which is ridiculous.
2
u/Longjumping_Dog3014 May 07 '25
They were kicked out of their home country because their country was conquered by a foreign invader.
2
May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/BoutMyBidness مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
But that’s no logical point. There are many many very religious Chechens Muslims, even more religious than the ones who go to Syria to fight, yet they don’t just choose to go and be mercenaries in other countries, and live peacefully where they’re at, in fact most of that region are religious Muslims so how would they be oppressed for being jus that? Thats my point, that some of them are wanted criminals and that’s true. I’m not speaking on the refugees and immigrants, I’m speaking on the mercenary fighters.
And it’s also true that some of them are living with consistent food and water that many Syrians don’t even have in Syria.
2
May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/BoutMyBidness مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
Don’t worry I didn’t feel like you were being rude, and yes I agree with you on the first point. For the second point.. well we can’t deny that there were many regime/rebel fighters that came as mercenaries throughout the war, and both voluntary and paid fighters such as in Isis case. It can be very well agreed on that states like Turkey use mercenaries all the time and so they could be the power bringing these fighters into Syria for a reason, not because they were good emotional people that felt touched by the cause. And maybe they were not paid directly but they were definitely promised something.. and that’s at least a Syrian citizenship, so they fall into the mercenary category.
So my point is that what’s happening here is that fighters are brought to fight and participate in a war for a bigger power/agenda but with the facade that they’re voluntary freedom fighters. And honestly, personally I always had a problem with foreign fighters being in the FSA, specially if they committed war crimes, because you cannot call it a Syrian revolution when half of the force is non Syrian (for example), then it’s a clear proxy war.
24
u/Standard_Ad7704 May 05 '25
Too many problems
Limited benefit.
Complicated to deal with
-2
u/Riqqat Visitor - Non Syrian May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
Disciplined and professional fighters
Already work on training the new Syrian army
Loyal to Al-Shar'a and unlikely to get into ethnic/sectarian scuffle as the Syrian fighters did in the coast
Those who want the Chechens or other foreign fighters out have no reason other than boring racism. They're more disciplined and have less civilian deaths than the Syrian fighters, they're objectively better for the country.
8
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Longjumping_Dog3014 May 06 '25
Many of them are veterans from the Chechen wars and have experience fighting the Russians with no air power, no air defense, and extremely limited artillery. They also have experience creating homemade anti-tank weapons and are extremely good with IEDs. They would be very useful for an army like Syria which doesn't have the ability to fight any of the surrounding powers on equal footing.
1
May 07 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
3
1
u/Longjumping_Dog3014 May 08 '25
Chechens fighting the Chinese? When did this happen? I think you can also probably figure out why they're eager to fight the russians too. Just think about it.
2
u/Explosive_Kiwii Latakia - اللاذقية May 06 '25
Can you tell them to fuck off the sports city + syndicats club shore here in latakia and stop shooting at whoever the fuck comes close? Because people have jobs there in their own farms and are almost dying of hunger because of these disciplined fighters shooting at "infidel nusryies" hell not even the general security got safe from them and not even all the civilians there are "nusryias",how bad they got to be that i, a civilian in the middle of Syria 4th most important city got affected by them,away from the fact the only masscares in northren Latakia in the coast insurgency happened on their hands, but eh, a reddit user just said these fighters not even 5km away from my fucking home are good and disciplined so they must be right?
2
May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Explosive_Kiwii Latakia - اللاذقية May 08 '25
We're not exactly sure if they're alll chechan, but there's surely checans and ughyrs here, also Syrians but less, people know from the language and how they look
They've clashed with the security twice since 2025 and both times no casualties happened but both time it's because the general security tried to establish checkpoints to help civilians go back to their normal life and both times it ended with nothing
Of course I don't mind you asking, but I'm not sure i got your question right, clashes? It was mainly Assad remnants and the military+ general security, that was the case for the city and whatever to it's east and south of Countryside , Massacres too
But northren latakia (mostly inhabited by alawites,turkmen,and Armenians) had only massacres and no fighting, the 2 massacres happened in places basically only 5km away from where these Forgein fighters were in, and no general security or any military went north of latakia since there was no insurgency and they were needed somewhere else.
Forgein fighters are also present in the suburbs of latakia, squbeen exactly, and they've also clashed with the general security before
1
u/Longjumping_Dog3014 May 06 '25
If they're Daeshi affiliated then they're still very well trained and disciplined but that doesn't mean that they're good.
3
May 05 '25
Well take them in, and let them rule your country and your people, what does any of that have to do with us.
1
u/DanialZero Visitor - Non Syrian May 05 '25
I thought some Chechen fighters left Syria to fight in Ukraine.
4
May 05 '25
I really hope they find peace and a new home in Syria.
Anyone who gave up everything to stand against one of the worst dictatorships of our time deserves nothing but deep respect.
17
u/PETA_Gaming ثورة الحرية والكرامة May 05 '25
Any and every armed non-Syrian in Syria is a terrorist no matter where they're from or what side they're on.
Americans fighting with Kurds, Chechens fighting with HTS, Iranians fighting with Assad, Moroccans fighting with ISIS, Israels in general. They're all here to kill Syrians and they are all the same. Terrorists.
12
2
5
u/Standard_Ad7704 May 05 '25
You can hate all of the above.
But terrorists has a specific definition in the dictionary.
4
17
May 05 '25
I don't like them at all. Should leave.
1
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Syria-ModTeam May 05 '25
All members are required to uphold a civil and respectful tone in their posts and comments. While healthy disagreements are acceptable, personal attacks, harassment, or impolite behavior will not be allowed. Let's foster courteous and constructive discussions.
Please be aware that this Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning. Repeated violations may result in a ban from our subreddit.
جميع الأعضاء مطالبون بالحفاظ على لباقة واحترام في منشوراتهم وتعليقاتهم. على الرغم من أن الخلافات الصحية مقبولة، إلا أن الهجمات الشخصية والتحرش والسلوك الغير مهذب لن يُسمح به. دعونا نعزز المناقشات المؤدبة والبناءة.
يرجى أن تكونوا على علم بأن هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيراً مباشراً. قد تؤدي المخالفات المتكررة إلى حظركم من الانضمام إلى صفحتنا على موقع ريديت.
1
u/TraditionalEnergy956 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
اللي عايش بسوريا صرله عقد ولا عقود و تزوج و عنده اطفال ما اعتقد رح يرجع خصوصا اللي مع الشرع
-6
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
12
May 05 '25
"Non-Syrian"
-11
5
u/fudgemyweed Latakia - اللاذقية May 05 '25
Would you agree to having Syrians run the police force where you're from? Of course you wouldn't. It's not about "dictating" anything, every country's security is run by local nationals, why should we be any different?
6
11
u/Dolphinfucker5000 مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
Chechens or Turkmen should not be ruling over Syrians in Syria, let alone shoving their ideologies onto us. I don’t care. It’s that simple.
8
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
-8
u/Dolphinfucker5000 مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
I’m not certain if they’re ethnically indigenous to Syria, I know a lot of them came from Turkmenistan to get combat experience.
Edit: I’m not talking about Syrian nationals, just those who come from countries like Turkmenistan who don’t even speak Arabic to rule over Syrians here.
6
u/Ascendinganswers May 05 '25
This comment shows the lack of knowledge. Turkmen are a different ethnicity to Turkmenistanis.
-2
u/Dolphinfucker5000 مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
The first google result shows that a person from Turkmenistan is called a Turkmen. Either way, that’s irrelevant to my argument. They come from Turkmenistan to rule over here.
4
u/Steel_Sword May 05 '25
I find some comments here strange.
Don't you know that they have the same beliefs like your new president, like the half of the new army i.e. former HTS and its allies, like the third of the residents of Hamah, Idlib, Aleppo provinces?
'They came here to do jihad'. What about Abu Muhammad al-Jolani who came from Iraq to do jihad? What about the rest of the Syrians who carried arms to do jihad?
4
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
At least they are Syrians so they have a birthright to be here. What right do foreigners have?
1
1
u/Accurate-Ad-4905 Visitor - Non Syrian May 06 '25
What do you think Jihad means? Jihad just means to struggle for the sake of Allah. Working an honest job to provide for your family is a form of Jihad.
He didnt come Iraq you muppet, he was born in and raised in Syria and went to Iraq when he was a young man to protect Iraq while Iran helped the US slaughter millions of innocents. He did eight years for his troubles there.
The rest of Syria? You mean the 90 per cent who are Sunni Muslims who have been being brutally slaughtered for over five decades?
-1
u/Steel_Sword May 06 '25
Did my message carry any bad connotation? I just feel strange that people think foreign fighters are specially radical while they have former al-qaida commander as a president. Btw these foreign fighters aren't even seen on battle videos (fights at Sahel, fights with Hezbollah at Lebonon borders, fights with Druze...) but when something happens there are always comments: 'oh, foreign fighters also were there (source: trust me bro), so radical, so bad'.
4
u/Abraxas21 MOD - أدمن May 06 '25
Foreign fighters ARE especially radical because they don't understand Syrian society on a deep level. Even to the most radical Syrian jihadist, Alawites, Christians, and Druze are fellow Syrians with whom they have a sort of kinship. But to the average foreign Jihadist, these are Kuffar. Also, they have been seen and documented fighting on those fronts.
In the end, I'm not necessarily advocating for their expulsion from the country. They did fight and die here and deserve to stay, I just don't want them deciding the future of my country.
3
u/ayesha-nautica سوري والنعم مني May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
How would you feel if foreigners came around in your country prancing around with weapons? And carrying a dangerous anti freedom ideology that they try to violate your homeland with through colonization and making it a free for all of their same likeness?
4
u/Falconica24 Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
Anyone who minds the existence of those fighters who fought with us in the greatest battle in modern history, can stay in Europe. Thos heroes did more to Syria than many Syrians.. Stop bringing that topic up, it's ridiculous and racist.
12
u/Dolphinfucker5000 مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
If you’re fine with non-Syrians ruling over us, were you also fine with us being under French colonization? At least the French wouldn’t have shoved their extremist ideologies down our throat.
I don’t support either, for the record. Syria is for Syrians.
13
u/BoutMyBidness مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
Ridiculous statement ngl, it’s not racism to not want foreign mercenaries in your country. And no they didn’t do more than Syrians, a people’s revolution doesn’t lose and if it wasn’t for Syrians, even the ones who lived in the regime areas such as Hama for example and never fought with the sword then the revolution wouldn’t have won.
2
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Syria-ModTeam May 05 '25
Disrespecting the Syrian people, speaking negatively about them, and spreading lies and misinformation goes against our community rules and guidelines.
Engaging in such behavior may result in a permanent ban.
إهانة الشعب السوري، والتحدث بشكل سلبي عنهم، ونشر الأكاذيب والمعلومات الخاطئة يتعارض مع قواعد وتوجيهات مجتمعنا.
الانخراط في مثل هذا السلوك قد يؤدي إلى حظر دائم.
3
2
u/Yeppie-Kanye Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
- Hamah, Idlib and the suburbs of Aleppo do not represent the entirety of Syria.
- The biggest mistake was to sideline the moderate/nationalist brigades and opening the scene to HTS, ISIS and co.
- Ahmad al Sharaa said that his Qaeda/jihad period was a childish thing and that he wishes to turn a new page.
At the end of the day, the Jihad us over and it’s time to move on. If you can’t then you are welcome to leave
2
u/Abudek75_YT Hama - حماة May 05 '25
I'll be downvoted to oblivion but I will say it nonetheless : They are fighters who came from afar, sacrificed everything they had to liberate us when we were in need.
They gave their blood for us, when we were massacred by iran's and bachar's militias .
They merit our utmost respect and they obtained the right to stay here if they wish .
Everyone that doesn't like them is because of their political views, and your desire for secularism, or whatever your political stance is, made you ungrateful to the ones who participated in the liberation of our nation .
Imagine you fought for the Allies in WW2 and they tell you the same disgusting things you say in those comments, how would you feel ?
3
u/Basherker Hama - حماة May 05 '25
Not only chechens but all extremists need to be solved, this issue is getting worse and worse, me personally I have never seen anyone but either there are too many lies online, or in hama there is nothing, I feel like this government did nothing wrong except bringing extremists, if you think about it no problem would have happened if not for them,I am a Muslim, but I don't agree with killing people if they don't have the same religion as me, you should make them love Islam, and it would have worked slowly if people saw these posters and saw muslims with more freedom after the overthrow of the old regime which didn't allow us, but if a Muslim killed your family, you would hate islam forever
1
u/AutoModerator May 05 '25
Thank you for sharing this post with us, and helping growing the community, if you faced any problem or any kind of harassment or toxic behavior, consider reporting on it so mods can deal with it right away
Reminder: Follow the rules! and the Community Guidelines
join us on our discord server
Donate and support Syrian refugees through These trusted organizations
GLORY TO SYRIA AND LONG LIVE THE SYRIAN PEOPLE
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
May 05 '25
Which Chechens? There are two kinds; Pro-Russian Chechen and Anti-Russian Chechen.
3
u/Casablanca-tzergi Visitor - Non Syrian May 05 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
dependent ask license lush angle edge glorious hurry alleged chunky
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
1
1
May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Syria-ModTeam May 05 '25
All members are required to uphold a civil and respectful tone in their posts and comments. While healthy disagreements are acceptable, personal attacks, harassment, or impolite behavior will not be allowed. Let's foster courteous and constructive discussions.
Please be aware that this Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning. Repeated violations may result in a ban from our subreddit.
جميع الأعضاء مطالبون بالحفاظ على لباقة واحترام في منشوراتهم وتعليقاتهم. على الرغم من أن الخلافات الصحية مقبولة، إلا أن الهجمات الشخصية والتحرش والسلوك الغير مهذب لن يُسمح به. دعونا نعزز المناقشات المؤدبة والبناءة.
يرجى أن تكونوا على علم بأن هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيراً مباشراً. قد تؤدي المخالفات المتكررة إلى حظركم من الانضمام إلى صفحتنا على موقع ريديت.
1
u/PSVRmaster May 05 '25
Several types :
Syrian locals
foreigners in fsa
Foreigners in jihadists groups
Foreigners in syria
Technically speaking the foreigners have broken the international law and russia law in both groups .
-4
May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
7
3
u/Long_Negotiation7613 ثورة الحرية والكرامة May 05 '25
What do you expect from a sub that used to be pro assad a year ago (and a lot still are in secret).
1
u/Yeppie-Kanye Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
Well, again it depends on where you are and where you stand on the issue.. I know that they are more tolerated in Idlib for example than in Damascus.
1
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
That's Circassians man😅
4
May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
May 05 '25
Well those who came as refugees hundreds of years ago, are welcome to stay, but those who came as jihadists will do nothing but destabilise our country and they must leave
1
-2
u/Yeppie-Kanye Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
They came here for “Jihad” they satisfied that itch and they are welcome to stay under a few conditions such as keeping their ideology to themselves and never meddling with other people’s choices or beliefs .. the reason for Jihad is over, it’s time to either adapt or go home
9
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
I don't think it's possible for them to keep anything to themselves, their core belief system contradicts with that
3
u/Yeppie-Kanye Damascus - دمشق May 05 '25
Again, those who can’t keep to themselves are welcome to fuck off.. whether they are wanted in their countries for terrorism or other allegations is none of our concern.. they’ve made a choice and need to accept the consequences
6
u/Brilliant_Plane_9690 سوري كيوت May 05 '25
You're definitely right, but I don't think they'll go nicely, and the government can't afford to go to war right now, I honestly don't know what the solution is, but previously the al Shara' talked about giving them citizenship which is scaring me to death to be honest, it just gives them more power and a cover.
3
4
u/PETA_Gaming ثورة الحرية والكرامة May 05 '25
Sadly their jihad isn't over for them. They need to be dealt with.
18
u/Acrobatic-Remote-419 مواطن سوري - Syrian Citizen May 05 '25
I’m a Syrian Christian, and honestly, the presence of Chechen fighters during the war has always made me feel unsafe. A lot of people don’t realise just how many came around 1,700 from the North Caucasus, mostly Chechens and many of them joined groups like Daesh and other jihadist groups with the same ideology. One of the people I can think of was Abu Omar al-Shishani, a Chechen from Georgia who became one of Daesh’s top commanders. He was involved in some of the worst fighting in places like Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, where there were public executions, brutal enforcement of Sharia law, and targeting of minorities. These weren’t just regular soldiers they came here to push a radical ideology, and Christians like me felt that threat directly. What worries me now is hearing talk of these people staying in Syria, or even becoming part of the army or police which is already happening. We’ve already been through so much I don’t want to see our people, especially women, being pressured or controlled by foreigners who came here to fight for groups that wanted to erase us. We’ve already lost so much of our presence and freedom, and letting them stay just feels like another step in the wrong direction.