After transporting the Christians to the city of al- Raqqa, “Islamic State” demolishes the monastery of Saint Elian

“Islamic State demolished a monastery belongs to the Christian people in the southeast of Homs. SOHR knew that IS destroyed the monastery of Saint Elian in the city of al- Qaryatayn seized by IS in August 6, where they pulled it down using bulldozers claiming that “the monastery is worshiped beside Allah”, coincided with carrying out 20 raids by the  regime warplanes on the city.

Meanwhile, reliable sources informed SOHR that IS took 110 civilians from the people of al- Qaryatayn, including dozens of Christians, from al- Qatari Palace in Palmyra in the east of Homs to the city of al- Tabaqa in the province of al- Raqqa, then transporting them to farms near the city of al- Raqqa after being kidnapped 2 weeks ago. The sources confirmed to SOHR that IS transported 110 people out of 1800 after it released about 48 detainees earlier, and that IS will make the Christina to choose whether to enter to Islam or pay “Jizyah” (a religiously required per capita tax on non-Muslims under Islamic law), while the destiny of 70 detainees out of 180 is still unknown till the moment.

It is worth noting that, IS kidnapped about 230 civilians of the displaced and people of the city of al- Qaryatayn kidnapped by “Islamic State” is still unknown, including dozens of Christians, 45 women, 19 children and 11 families, while hundreds others are missed. The reliable sources informed SOHR that IS kidnapped them according to name lists, and that some of them were arrested from the monastery of Saint Elian in the city of al- Qaryatayn, where unknown militiamen kidnapped the pontiff Jack Mrad, who is the head of monastery, was kidnapped from the monastery 12 weeks ago.