Kurds oust IS militants from Christian villages in Syria

Beirut, May 27

Kurdish forces have driven the Islamic State group from more than a dozen Assyrian Christian villages that the jihadists had captured in northeastern Syria.

“Following a 10-day offensive, Kurdish fighters took control early this week of 14 Assyrian villages that IS had controlled since February,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Assyrian Christians, who are from one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, have been under increasing threat since IS seized control of large parts of Syria.

Thousands of Christians fled an assault by the jihadists in the northeastern province of Hasakeh in February after a spate of kidnappings by the Islamic State, which is still holding 210 Assyrians hostage. Assyrians number about 30,000 among Syria’s 1.2 million Christians and mostly live in 35 villages in Hasakeh.

Meanwhile, the IS executed 20 men in front of a crowd in the UNESCO-listed Roman theatre of Palmyra, a monitor said.— AFP