Robbing the property of displaced Syrians has become a systematic action for some influential groups backed by the de facto authorities in northeastern Syria, especially with the spread of corruption within the judicial system of each of the parties to the Syrian conflict.

The Syriac Assyrians hailing from the Syrian Jazira region and who currently live outside Syria, have recently been losing their properties and agricultural lands to theft. Organized gangs are looting lands either by forging property documents or terrorizing property owners and forcing them to sell at low prices.

The Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO), the largest and oldest Assyrian Christian party in Syria that was established in 1957, has recently revealed violations against Syriac Assyrian properties in the cities and regions of the Syrian Jazira area by the Assad government and influential people in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, especially in Qamishli, Malikiyah, Tal Tamr and Hasakah, by forging documents and signatures of their original owners.

In a July 13 statement posted on its Facebook page, ADO said, “Most recently, a property located in the security square under the control of the regime on the western side of the Mar Yaqoub al-Nusaibini church [in Qamishli], owned by Mr. Ishak Afram and his sons, was sold against their will.”