ISIS 'Planning to Kill 150 Christian Hostages

ISIS 'Planning to Kill 150 Christian Hostages
Wed Feb 25, 2015 15:45:36

ISIS militants are planning to murder 150 Christian hostages they kidnapped after sweeping through villages in Syria if the U.S. does not stop air strikes, it has been reported.

The abductions of the Christians took place yesterday after ISIS seized two Assyrian communities from Kurdish forces in the northeast province of Hassakeh.

"ISIS planning to release a video as early as today, where they will threaten to kill the hostages if air strikes don't stop."

The dawn raids are said to have spread 'panic' in the villages, inhabited by the ancient Christian minority along the banks of the Khabur River near the town of Tel Hmar with most coming from the village of Tal Shamiram.

It is thought that the militants are holding the seized women and children in houses in the ISIS-held town of al-Shadadi and using them as human shields from air strikes.

Now CNN has reported that the terror group are now planning to release a video as early as today, where they will threaten to kill the hostages if air strikes don't stop.

Osama Edward, founder of the Assyrian Human Rights Network told the station that the video will be directed to US President Barack Obama and other members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

The video is expected to say that the hostages will be killed unless the strikes stop.

Meanwhile, it has also been reported that at least 500 families escaped the attack and fled to a nearby church in Hasakah city, where they found refuge.

Mr Edward told the IBTimesUK: 'We're involved, many of them are friends and relatives. I'm trying not to get involved and be as objctive and accurate as possible without surrender to personal feelings.'

The kidnappings come as ISIS released a video showing militants beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya earlier this month.

After ISIS attacked the two villages as well as the nearby town of Tal Tamr, which remains under Kurdish control, the terrorists set fire to a church there and then installed fighters in the remains of the building, an activist network reported.

The US-led coalition fighting ISIS, which has backed Kurdish forces battling the group, then bombed the building on Monday, destroying it and killing ISIS militants inside.

Control of Hassakeh province is largely divided between Kurdish forces, who in some places patrol with Syrian army troops, and ISIS fighters.

Since recapturing the strategic border town of Kobane in Aleppo from ISIS fighters on January 26, Kurdish forces have taken dozens of nearby villages.

They have also seized 19 villages from ISIS in Raqa, where the terrorists group has its de facto capital, and another 30 villages and hamlets in Hassakeh.

The Kurdish advances have been aided by the US-led air strikes, including a series in Hassakeh on Monday that killed at least 14 ISIS fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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