Sootoro

The Syriac Protection Office (, سوتورو), commonly known as the Sootoro or Qamishli Sootoro is Syrian government-aligned Christian militia of the Assyrian-Syriac and Armenian communities in the town of Qamishli.

The Qamishli Sootoro should not be confused with the Sutoro Police which has the same name in the Syriac language, but uses the transliteration Sutoro. The Sutoro Police is the armed wing of the Ssyriac Union party. The Sutoro Police considers the Qamishli Sootoro to be a breakaway group from the Syriac Union Party, while the Qamishli Sootoro claims to have always been a separate group. The Sootoro has a different emblem.

Though it was initially organised with Syriac Union Party support, the Qamishli militia (unlike the Sutoro Police) was not under the control of the party, but a "peace committee" composed of several Christian organisations from the city. The SUP soon lost virtually all influence on this group, which became seen by many SUP members as being controlled by agents of the Syrian government.

In late 2013, the split between this branch and the rest of the Sutoro became clear. Now transliterating its name as "Sootoro" (alternately referring to itself as the "Syriac Protection Office"), the militia in Qamishli adopted an entirely different logo and started openly asserting a separate identity. In November, the media office of the Qamishli Sootoro stated that it operated exclusively in the city of Qamishli and had not formed branches anywhere else, furthermore accusing militias outside the city of having appropriated their name; by December, the group was explicitly disavowing any connection to the SUP in their press releases. Though it continues to officially claim neutrality, the Qamishli Sootoro has become effectively a pro-government militia. Members of the group are frequently shown next to government flags and portraits of Bashar al-Assad in visual media, and flags bearing its distinct logo have been seen at pro-Assad rallies in the government-controlled sector of the city.

Qamishli is one of the last places in northeast where government forces, having been pushed out of most of Hasakah Governorate by either rebel groups or the Kurdish-autonomist forces of the YPG, still maintain some presence. The Kurds control most of Qamishli, while loyalist forces remain in a few majority-Arab districts in the south, parts of the city centre, the border crossing to Turkey, Qamishli Airport, and an army base on the southern outskirts. The assertion of loyalist control over the Qamishli militia has been identified as a potential effort by the government to strengthen its position in the city by expanding and solidifying its shrunken territorial holdings.