Islamic State militants abduct at least 150 Christians from Syrian villages, activists say
Jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group have kidnapped at least 150 Assyrian Christians in north-east Syria, activists say.
The abductions took place on Tuesday after IS seized two Assyrian villages – Tal Shamiram and Tal Hermuz – from Kurdish forces in the province of Hassakeh, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A Syrian Christian group representing several non-government organisations inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants.
“We have verified at least 150 people who have been abducted from sources on the ground,” Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac National Council of Syria, said from Amman.
Earlier the Observatory said 90 were abducted when the militants carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hassakeh, a city mainly held by the Kurds.
IS has destroyed churches and Christian shrines in Syria, and demanded that Christians living under its rule pay a tax known as jizya.
In Libya, IS jihadists last week released a video showing the beheadings of 21 mostly Egyptian Christians.
Much of Hassakeh is divided between Kurdish and IS control.
Fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) were on the offensive in the province in recent days.
They took 24 villages and hamlets as part of an operation to try to recapture the town of Tal Hamis and surrounding areas.
Tal Hamis lies to the east of the villages taken by IS on Tuesday.
YPG forces were also on the offensive in Raqqa province, which neighbours Hassakeh, seizing 19 villages as they advanced following their recapture of the strategic border town of Kobane last month.
The Kurdish forces were backed by US-led air strikes launched by the international coalition fighting IS.
The observatory said the coalition carried out a series of strikes around Tal Hamis on Tuesday that killed 14 IS members.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-24/islamic-state-in-syria-abducts-at-least-90-christian-village/6257726