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The UK-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 230 people
were kidnapped, including dozens of Christians, some of whom
were taken from a church in Qaryatain, the town captured
overnight after heavy fighting with the Syrian army.
Qaryatain is near a road linking the ancient city of Palmyra to
the Qalamoun mountains, along the border with Lebanon.
Islamic State has killed members of religious minorities and
Sunni Muslims who do not swear allegiance to its self-declared
"caliphate". They also consider Christians as infidels.
Last February, the hardline jihadists abducted at least 250
Assyrian Christians, many of whom were children and women,
during raids on villages in northeastern Syria, in a mass
abduction coinciding with an offensive in the same region by
Kurdish forces backed by US led air strikes.
The fate of many of these civilians is unclear, as is that of a
number of priests who went missing and are believed to be held
by the militants, according to Christian groups.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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