“Christians in country however have flocked to the SDF as an alternative.”
Anything to back that up, as it would run TOTALLY AGAINST Obama, Hillary, and the Deep State efforts to clear out the remaining Christians from the Middle East (think Muslim Brotherhood support).
...or is it simply more Deep State propaganda?
As far as I know, every Christian still left in Syria is either in Assad-controlled Syria, or as been killed by SDF/ISIS.
“Anything to back that up?” (Christians supporting SDF)
The whole structure and new name (SDF) was to open up the formerly Kurdish only fighting forces (YPG/YPJ) into a broader mutli-ethnic, multi-confessional coalition, that would be more politically representative, and more politically acceptable (Mainly to Turkey which has huge security conerns with Kurdish power, but also to the Syrian Regime/Int’l community for post conflict settlement talks).
You can Google “SDF Christian” or look at the wikipedia entry for the SDF. Although wikipedia downplays the Christian aspect of the coalition, they do note that Syriac Military Council was an early, non-Kurdish member of the SDF.
The Syriac Military Council is the main Christian militia in Syria. They represent/are composed of the Assyrian and Chaldean Christian communities. Although they joined the SDF in 2015 as soon as it was announced, they were military allies with the Kurdish YPG/YPJ since 2013.
Largely Christian areas in Hasakah have been liberated from ISIS by the Kurds (which is when the Syriac Military Council joined them), and have been administered by the Kurds/SDF since.
I guess it is probably more accurate to say that Christians will flock to EITHER the Regime or the SDF, because those are the only groups who provide them physical security from the many monsters on the loose in Syria - most notably the Sunni extremists like ISIS, al Queda and the many supposed “moderate rebel” groups. A lot of Orthodox Christians live in Regime strongholds, and strongly support the Regime, and join the Regime’s military.
So I guess that it depends on which part of the country the Christians are living, as Regime and SDF areas do not overlap. The SDF has been shown in practice to be an acceptable alternative for Syrian Christians (who voluntarily stay, return, and join), but we have not really had a lot of opportunity for Christians to freely choose between the Regime or SDF, without the pressures of imminent life-threatening enemies nearby.
However one thing that is dramatically unreasonable to conclude about Christians in Syria, is that they are “either in Assad-controlled Syria, or (have) been killed by SDF/ISIS.”
The SDF, and their Kurdish predecessors are the ones who have defeated ISIS. Christians and Kurds in the NorthEast of the country have been allies in defeating ISIS.
The Kurds/SDF have not attacked Christians. They have liberated Christian areas from ISIS, provided refugee assistance to Christians, and have protected Christians and their rights in the areas they administer, fought side-by-side with Christians against ISIS, and included Christians
in the administration.
Just in the last week, the SDF held the first local elections in the liberated areas, and Christian voters and candidates participated freely and were represented in the results.
Catholics under SDF administration (today on twitter - they use the Kurdish name for Hasakah):
https://twitter.com/AzadiRojava/status/913813126797234176