Assyrian Christians under threat in Syria

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Islamic State jihadists

?Fears were growing Wednesday that Islamic State jihadists were holding more Assyrian Christians than previously thought, even as Kurdish forces recaptured several of the villages in north-eastern Syria from where they had been abducted.Islamic State jihadists

A local activist told dpa that the militant group was holding more than 260 Assyrian residents from villages on the Khabur river near al-Hassakeh – far higher than the previously reported figure of 90.

George Mirza, the head of the Assyrian Council of Villages of Khabur, said that 90 per cent of the Assyrian families living in the area – the historic heartland of the eastern Christian denomination in Syria – had been forced to flee their homes.

Mirza told dpa by phone that he had information that the captives were still being held in the vicinity of al-Hassakah, denying reports that they had been moved from the area.

“We also have information that the militant group will give a deadline of until Friday to kill the Assyrian hostages, who include women and children as well as elderly.”

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) meanwhile recaptured the villages of Tel Hermez and Tel Shamiran, where most of the abductions took place, after three days of fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Rami Abdel-Rahman, director of the monitoring group, said that he had been able to document only 90 Assyrians being detained by Islamic State, and said that others might be hiding or have lost contact with relatives.

An Australian fighter with the YPG had been killed in fighting with the jihadists east of al-Hassakeh, Abdel-Rahman added.

Father Yesron Kolinya, a spokesman for the Assyrian Church in Lebanon, called on the international community to save the captives from the extremist militia, which is notorious for killing hostages.

Earlier this month, Islamic State released a video purporting to show its affiliate in Libya beheading 21 mostly Egyptian Christians.

The Assyrians follow an ancient Eastern Christian rite and speak a form of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Their largest communities are in north-eastern Syria and nearby areas of neighbouring Iraq.

In Damascus, meanwhile, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday met a team of French parliamentarians, Syrian state media reported.

They discussed challenges facing the Arab world and Europe, mainly “terrorism”, Syria’s official SANA news agency said.

The Syrian government uses the term “terrorism” to refer to all rebel forces, including groups backed by Western and Gulf governments.

In Paris, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said the French parliamentarians were operating outside their official roles.

France ceased diplomatic relations with Syria in 2012 in the face of the increasingly brutal conflict.

Le Foll said the meeting between the four lawmakers and al-Assad was “not an official or diplomatic effort of France,” but a personal initiative of the politicians.

In another development, the first bombs have been dropped from French Rafale warplanes during the third day of air operations from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the French news agency AFP reported.

No comments were made aboard the Charles de Gaulle about the operations, the news agency said. Daily missions have been conducted since Monday.

The Charles de Gaulle was deployed to the Gulf to join in the fight against Islamic State targets in Iraq after President Francois Hollande announced the deployment following terrorist attacks in Paris by gunmen claiming allegiance to jihadist networks.

In northern Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga forces Wednesday claimed to have gained control of a major supply route for the Islamic State militants.

Colonel Serbest Mustafa, a Kurdish commander, told dpa that the route had been used by the extremist group to get supplies between the militant-held Iraqi city of Mosul and Syria.

He said the Peshmerga, the troops of Iraq’s autonomous area of Kurdistan, had also retaken two border outposts near Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which was overrun by Islamic State fighters in June.

Last week, a US military official said a planned operation to retake Mosul from Islamic State would begin in April or May, if a training programme for Iraqi forces had been completed by then.

GNA

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