Tag: Khabur

Syria’s Christian villages ‘hollowed out’ by IS

August 17, 2018 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria, Women

Before the war there were many churches in the area around Hassaka who held regular services, like this one in Tel Jezirah. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2009)

The Islamic State, following its defeat in Syria, has left behind hollowed-out Christian villages, reports the New York Times. Assyrian Christians, an indigenous Middle Eastern minority, once formed thriving farming communities along the Khabur River in Syria’s northeast. But when IS attacked the area in 2015, the militants demolished churches and kidnapped . . . Read More

Christian hostages reveal Syrian ransom saga

December 9, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria

Former Islamic State hostages have revealed that , launched by a Syrian bishop who rallied the Assyrian Christian diaspora around the world. , the Assyrian Christians were handled roughly and harassed repeatedly to convert to Islam. They expected to die, but within a week the IS militants sent 17 Assyrians . . . Read More

Kurdish YPG ‘occupy’ Assyrian villages in northeast Syria

October 4, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Chaldeans, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kurds, Syria

As fighting intensifies to retake areas of north-eastern Syria from the so-called Islamic State (IS), the media spotlight shows the complexity of the military picture. The Khabur River region in Syria’s Hasakah province was attacked by IS in February 2015. Thirty-five Assyrian villages were emptied; days later IS kidnapped and . . . Read More

Assyrian Christian girl released in Syria

March 29, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Qaryatain, Syria

An Assyrian Christian girl taken hostage 13 months ago by Islamic State (IS) militants in northeast Syria‘s Hasakah province has been set free after “intense negotiations” for her release. Miriam David Talya, who had been captured with more than 250 other Khabur villagers in Feb. 2015, arrived in Tel Tamar . . . Read More

Islamic State releases more Christian hostages

February 1, 2016 Syria Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Middle East, Qaryatain, Syria

Islamic State released 22 Assyrian hostages – mainly women and children – in Syria over the weekend. Sixteen of them were from the in Hasakah province in February 2015. The other six hostages released were taken in August from Qaryatain. Islamic State is still holding 73 of the 253 original hostages. There have . . . Read More

Syria: 11 churches attacked since February

December 15, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Churches, Civil War, Islamic State, Khabur, Syria

The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) has released a list of the names of Syrian churches and monasteries destroyed by ISIS and other jihadi groups since February. “On February 23, ISIS attacked the 35 Assyrian villages on the Khabur River in [Al-Hasakah], Syria, capturing 253 Assyrians. In the subsequent months . . . Read More

25 Assyrian captives freed

December 10, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria

Twenty-five Syrian Christians abducted by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in February have been released, . The freed captives, all of them men and which included two boys ages 7 and 9, were among 253 Assyrians captured during an IS attack on dozens of villages near the Khabur river in the Hasaka province, . . . Read More

10 Assyrians released after ‘negotiations’

November 25, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Homs, Islamic State, Khabur, Qaryatain, Syria

The Islamic State has released 10 more Assyrians, from over 200 indigenous Christians it had snatched from their communities in north eastern Syria in February. The civilians, five men and five women, were released Tuesday evening, the Assyrian Human Rights Network (AHRN) reported. The released hostages, from Tel Shamiram, Tel Jazeera, . . . Read More

37 Assyrian Christians released in Syria

November 9, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Qaryatain, Syria

The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has released another 37 Assyrian Christians kidnapped nine months ago in Syria, Assyrian sources said. The group, including men and women in their sixties and seventies, were among the 253 Christians snatched in IS attacks on Assyrian villages in northeastern Syria’s Hassaka province. Three thousand . . . Read More

IS releases first execution video of Syrian Christians

October 9, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Hezbollah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Syria

A video released by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) on 7 Oct. has showed the jihadists killing three Assyrian Christian hostages with shots to the back of their heads. According to the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights, it is the first IS video showing Christians in Syria being executed. Shown . . . Read More

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