​In Defense of Christians (IDC), the nation's leading advocacy organization for Christians in the Middle East, is celebrating this year's accomplishments and all those who support our mission at the Fifth Annual Solidarity Dinner taking place at The Hamilton this Wednesday, December 5 at 7:00 PM.
This year's Solidarity Dinner will bring together Members of Congress, civil society advocates, and faith leaders from across the country. We look forward to highlighting these achievements and honoring our Congressional Champions in this cause.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget and member of President Donald J. Trump's cabinet Mick Mulvaney will deliver the keynote address. This year's dinner will also feature a panel discussion with Representatives Jeff Fortenberry, Glen Grothman, and Chris Smith, where they will discuss efforts to support human rights and protection for minorities in Iraq. Other speakers include Representatives Randy Hultgren, Mark Meadows, Jackie Speier, French Hill, and Brad Sherman.
The dinner seeks to further the public discourse on a range of current issues related to the Middle East. Members of Congress will lead the evening's conversations about various challenges facing the region. Join us and also get an exclusive preview into our 2019 advocacy agenda for the next Congress.
"2018 marked a year of legislative success for IDC and our mission. In November alone, Congress unanimously passed the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act; the House of Representatives passed the Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act; and the Senate voted with strong bipartisan support to advance a resolution seeking to withdraw the United States from the Yemen conflict, among other achievements," stated IDC President Toufic Baaklini.
We look forward to continuing our work to support the human rights of minorities across the Middle East along with our Congressional Champions and partners across the U.S. government.

YALLA - WASHINGTON, DC -  Under the claims of fighting terrorists, both Russian and Syrian regime war planes struck Syria’s Idlib today. This comes of the heels of a large military buildup of Assad and his allies forces and threats to liberate the region from rebel control.
Idlib is home to an estimated 3 million people, half of whom are displaced from different parts of Syria. The region is considered a zone of de-escalation, one that is refuge to people fleeing conflict elsewhere in the country and should be safe from any kind of military attack.
IDC urges the international community, particularly the United States to prevent a Russian, Iranian, Assad attack against the region. An attack and invasion of Idlib would spark a  humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions and send a new, massive wave of refugees into neighboring countries, destabilizing the region further.  
Assad, with Iranian and Russian help “ continues to implement a scorched earth policy as he seeks to regain control of the whole country. The result is immense human suffering, a collapsed economy, an international refugee crisis, and worst of all, half a million dead. Christians, Druze, Sunni, and Shia are all victims of a continued conflict in Syria, absent of any political solution, and terrorism will remain, threatening the future of the country and US national security” says IDC Executive Director Philippe Nassif.
The Christian population continues to dwindle in Syria as the war rages and economy continues to falter, and the survival of the population along with all other religious minorities in this ancient land is at great risk unless the international community takes a lead in bringing peace to the country and ends the daily human rights violations that plague the population of Syria.

​IDC Urges the United States to Protect These Vulnerable Communities and all Religious MinoritiesWASHINGTON, DC -   On August 7, 2018, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), threatened to close the Syriac Orthodox school in Derbiseye, Syria after school officials refused to adopt a Kurdish teaching curriculum imposed on them by the PKK.
The Kurdish-language primary school curricula introduced by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria in October, 2015 was heavily criticized for being too ideological and prioritizing a single view over all others.
This is not the first time the PKK targets Christian schools in Syria: in November, 2015, sixteen Assyrian and Armenian organizations issued a statement protesting Kurdish expropriation of private property in the Hasaka province of Syria.
Following the August 7, 2018 threats to close down Christian schools, the PKK and the Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Unit (YPG), which receives U.S. military aid, began a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the Christian community, churches and schools of Hasaka, based in Syria’s Qamishli. Leaders and priests of the Christian churches in Hasaka issued a statement against these attacks on schools and churches, as well as the confiscation of Christian properties.

"The United States has a presence in this part of Syria, and supports the various units that comprise the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control this region. It is unacceptable that Christians and other minorities are unable to practice their religion freely, speak their ancient language, and live without repression or threats after suffering so much persecution. The United States should immediately work to end this campaign against these vulnerable populations”, stated IDC Executive Director Philippe Nassif.
The recent uptick in the persecution of Christians in Kurdish areas follows the continued deterioration of Christian, Druze, and Yezidi populations elsewhere in Syria, as the Assad regime has failed to protect them and in some cases, openly victimized them.
“From the brief but devastating fall of the Christian town of Maaloula several years ago - the only remaining Aramaic speaking village in the world - to the more recent July 2018 attacks that killed 220 Syrians, mostly from the Druze community in Southern Syria's Suweida, we are gravely concerned that Syria’s diversity is quickly disappearing due to continued conflict,” added Nassif. “The Presence and success of these minority communities are of critical importance to achieving U.S. National Security objectives."
IDC stands with Christian and other religious minority communities in their fight against any human rights abuses, and we will continue to advocate for their rights.