On Monday, Nihad Hassan, a priest of the Kurdish Church in Beirut, told the Syriac Press that according to him  factions of the Syrian National Army – a coalition of Turkish backed militias, some of them radical Islamists – were responsible for the kidnapping.

He also said that “we stopped contacting the kidnapped, based on their request, and fear for their families. However, we received promises they will be released soon.”

Finally, Hassan added that the armed factions in Afrin have destroyed the churches in the region and have converted some of them into headquarters. They tortured, kidnapped, or even murdered some priests and their relatives who lived in the region.