Christian militia takes the war to Islamic State in Syria
Kurdish fighters in the Syrian town of Hassakeh have been involved in fierce fighting with Isil jihadists including Chechens
A Christian militia formed to protect the community as Syria falls apart is fighting its first major battle against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), attacking across a front in the north-east of the country before being driven back again in a fierce counter-blow.
Christian groups said they were checking a report that up to 200 civilians had been kidnapped by Isil jihadists in the fighting and were being held as hostages.
A number of fighters from the militia, the Syriac Military Council, were also said to be missing.
The council, known by the initials MFS from its title in Aramaic, the ancient language of the Christian church, was founded in 2013 as jihadists began to dominate more of northern Syria.
It is allied to the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia involved in the defence of the town of Kobane, and on Sunday joined it in a drive against Isil in the north-eastern province of Hassakeh.
On Sunday night, it claimed to have driven the jihadists out of 22 villages, including a string of settlements occupied by the Assyrian Catholic minority between Hassakeh town and the Turkish border.
The attack was backed by bombing raids from the US-led coalition against Isil, which said it had carried out 11 air strikes in Hassakeh on Sunday, hitting 10 Isil tactical units and destroying two Isil vehicles, a bunker and a “fighting position”.
The coalition has been working closely with the YPG since the battle for Kobane, with YPG units phoning in combat positions to the jets, despite its being closely affiliated to the PKK, the Turkey-based Kurdish guerrilla group proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the US and UN.
It is not clear what control in the area Isil had previously, but the villages had been subject to repeated attack, including at least one case where jihadists had entered the the village of Tel Hormizd and forced villagers to remove the cross from the church.
However, on Monday morning, Isil struck back, fighting its way into Tel Hormizd, nearby Tel Shamiran and Tel Tawil, and several other villages, according to a statement. According to one report, the Isil fighters were led by the infamous Chechen jihadist Omar al-Shishani.
A separate statement issued on the Facebook page of a group set up to campaign for Christians under threat from Isil said a large number of Christians had been seized by the group in yesterday morning’s attack.
“The men were later brought to a mountain called Abd al Aziz to be held as hostages,” it said. “The women and children were left in the village with Isil guards controlling them.
“A witness left behind due to his poor health was able to raise the alarm and informed his family member in Canada who then spread the word about the latest atrocities of Isil.”
The witness could not be immediately contacted and there was no separate confirmation. A spokesman for the MFS said that Isil had kidnapped many residents from Christian villages recently but did not confirm this incident.
One man, who asked not to be named, told the Telegraph two of his mother’s uncles and several cousins had been seized. “My mother called the mobile phone of her cousins,” he said.
“They were answered by a man who said we have taken these people. Do not call again. We are afraid they have been taken as hostages,” he said.
Other Christians took refuge in the town of Tel Temir on the River Khabur. Andy Darmoo, who runs a London-based charity for the Assyrian Christian community, said he was also trying to investigate the report.
The MFS statement added that four of its soldiers had disappeared in Tel Hormizd, after staying to fight to the end.
The growing alliance between the Kurds and other minority groups, along with some Free Syrian Army factions, is a recent development, likely to have been encouraged by America and its Western allies desperate for a solid fighting group it can back in the multi-sided battle for Syria.
The YPG has been especially distrusted by Turkey because of its links to the PKK, and in turn has accused the Turks of openly collaborating with Isil against it.
However, as Turkey becomes more concerned with the threat to its own population from Isil, that may be starting to change. It was confirmed on Monday that the YPG had helped Turkish armed forces extract troopsguarding the shrine of Suleyman Shah, an enclave of Turkish territory inside Syria, through Kobane.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said that 1,465 Isil fighters had been killed by coalition air strikes since they started in September.
In addition, they had killed 73 fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, and 62 civilians.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11430961/Christian-militia-takes-the-war-to-Islamic-State-in-Syria.html