The
following excerpts are from AINA.org:
Still
reeling from last week's news of the Islamist beheading of 21 Coptic
Christian migrant workers in Libya, Middle Eastern Christians were
again targeted by a large scale Islamist terror attack with thousands
of victims Monday, in Syria. Islamic State jihadists laid siege to a
string of Christian Assyrian villages, along the Khabour river, in
northeastern Syria, kidnapping or killing scores of residents. Those
abducted are now in imminent peril and thousands more who were
expelled have joined the ranks of mendicant displaced.
Piece
by piece, Middle Eastern Christianity is being shattered.
What
this means for the Islamist militants are gains in strategic ground
and further headway in the goal of religious cleansing. In other
words, the Islamic State also known as ISIS is still winning --
militarily and politically. And despite upbeat statements about our
counter-terrorism strategy by new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter,
and last week's Counter Violent Extremism conference at the State
Department, our side -- those who oppose this barbarism -- finds
itself still back on its heels.
Archimandrite
Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian Church of the East emailed that
sources in the city of Hassakah, reported that some 3,000 of the
villagers managed to flee, either to that city or to Qamishly, where
they are being sheltered in churches. According to his source, who
requested anonymity, the captives included "50 families in Tel
Shamiran, 26 families in Tel Gouran, 28 families in Tel Jezira, and
14 young people (12 males and 2 females) who were defending Tel
Hormiz." Milad, a 17-year-old man, was "martyred."
Since
a family averages five people, this translates to over 120 Christians
captured by ISIS. The Islamist militants reportedly separated the
captives, men from women and children -- a pattern also seen when
ISIS attacked Iraq's Yizidi community on Sinjar mountain last August.
The Syrian Christians' fate is unknown but could include murder,
enslavement, rape or traded as a hostage. Churches in the seized
villages could be seen ablaze from the opposite river bank.
Syrian-Catholic
Archbishop of Hassakah-Nisibi, Jacques Behnan Hindo, told the Vatican
press Fides that the Christians feel like they are "abandoned
into the hands" of ISIS.
The
Archbishop explained:
"Yesterday
American bombers flew over the area several times, but without taking
action. We have a hundred Assyrian families who have taken refuge in
Hassakah, but they have received no assistance either from the Red
Crescent or from Syrian government aid workers, perhaps because they
are Christians. The UN High Commission for Refugees is nowhere to be
seen."
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Piece By Piece, Middle Eastern Christianity is Being Shattered
