Franklin Graham Urges Prayer: Turkish Invasion of Syria Begins, 'Humanitarian Catastrophe' Feared as Kurdish Civilians Rush to Protect Border

Emily Jones : Oct 9, 2019
CBN News

"TODAY I ask that you join me in praying for the lives affected by the White House decision to pull US troops out of northern Syria ... The Kurds are the ones who have been leading the fight against ISIS in Syria. Also pray for the Christians who the Kurds have been protecting. They could be annihilated. Would you pray w/me that Pres. Trump will reconsider?..." -Franklin Graham

(Jerusalem, Israel) — [CBN News] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his invasion into northeast Syria has begun. A spokesman for the Kurdish fighters said Turkish warplanes have started attacking the region. (Image: Turkish forces artillery pieces are driven to their new positions near the border with Syria /DHA via AP /via CBN News)

Earlier, Turkish media reports said Turkish jets had bombed Syrian Kurdish positions across the border from Turkey.

Warning of a possible "humanitarian catastrophe", US-allied Kurdish forces in northeast Syria are flocking to the Turkish border to face the onslaught from Ankara.

The Kurdish-led civilian administration, known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, says: "We call upon our people, of all ethnic groups, to move toward areas close to the border with Turkey to carry out acts of resistance during this sensitive historical time."

It also urged the international community to not stand by as "a humanitarian catastrophe might befall our people" in northeastern Syria.

Turkey has been amassing troops on the border for weeks. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his forces will invade Syria to wipe out the Kurds and establish a "safe zone" where it will relocate 2 million Syrian refugees.

Turkey considers the Kurdish forces who operate inside northeast Syria to be terrorists due to their ties with Kurdish separatists who challenge Erdogan's power in his country.

However, the Syrian Kurds are US allies who fought alongside American soldiers in the years-long fight against ISIS.

The invasion comes after President Donald Trump said on Sunday that US troops will step aside and not intervene to save its Kurdish allies, a major shift in US policy that drew bipartisan backlash.

Trump defended his decision to pull US troops out of northeast Syria on Twitter Wednesday, saying it was time for the US to disengage from the Middle East's "stupid endless wars."

"Fighting between various groups that has been going on for hundreds of years," he said. "USA should never have been in (the) Middle East. Moved our 50 soldiers out. Turkey MUST take over captured ISIS fighters that Europe refused to have returned. The stupid endless wars, for us, are ending!" he said.

But Trump also has threatened to "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey's economy if the Turkish invasion into Syria went too far.

The Kurds have already felt the effects of the US' decision.

ISIS terrorists carried out a "large-scale" attack against Kurdish forces in northern Syria early Wednesday morning while they were preparing for their showdown with Turkey.

The attack targeted Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Raqqa, which was once the terror group's de facto capital. Kurdish fighters say the assault involved three suicide attacks against them but did not give details about casualties.

"At the same time of Turkish threats to invade NE Syria, Daesh (ISIS) sleeper cells launched a large-scale attack on SDF security bases inside al-Raqqa," said SDF spokesperson Mustafa Bali.

The Kurds signaled that if ISIS captures part of Raqqa, they will be unable to fight the terror group effectively while also simultaneously fighting Turkey in northeast Syria.

"The Daesh (ISIS) attack is large-scale and is not a hit and run operation. Now who is volunteering to fight them in case they capture parts of the city now that the SDF is busy manning borderline?" Kurdish fighter Bahtiyar Umut said on Twitter Wednesday.

While Trump shows no signs of coming to the defense of US-allies in northeast Syria, evangelist Franklin Graham is urging Believers to pray.

"TODAY I ask that you join me in praying for the lives affected by the White House decision to pull US troops out of northern Syria. Both Democrat & Republican leaders are deeply concerned because this would be, in essence, abandoning our closest allies there—the Kurdish people," he wrote on Twitter.

"The Kurds are the ones who have been leading the fight against ISIS in Syria. Also pray for the Christians who the Kurds have been protecting. They could be annihilated. Would you pray w/me that Pres. Trump will reconsider? Thousands of lives hang in the balance." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here