FaithWire |Sanharab Barsoum | Nov. 7, 2019
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Outside of Tel Temir in northeast Syria, the ruins of the formerly magnificent Tel Nesri church stand stark against the sky, its shattered dome and cracked walls a testament to the brutal history of the region.
Tel Nesri used to be a Christian settlement of 70 families, part of the multi-ethnic tapestry of the region, where a quarter of a million Christians lived alongside the Kurdish, Arab, Armenian, Turkmen, Yezidi and Circassian communities.
When ISIS forces swarmed across the region in 2014 and 2015, targeting Christians with executions, kidnapping, sex slavery and destruction of places of worship, the Christian community fled the region, seeking safety in other regions or abroad. Between 100,000-150,000 Christians were either killed or fled abroad as refugees.