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 At least 90 Assyrian Christians were seized from villages in
Hasaka province in a mass abduction coinciding with the offensive in
the same region by Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes,
according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks
the conflict.
The Syriac National Council of Syria put the figure as high as 150.
Hundreds more Christians have fled to the two main cities in Hasaka
province, according to the Syriac council and the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights, which is tracking the conflict.
Islamic State has killed members of religious minorities and Sunni
Muslims who do not swear allegiance to its self-declared
"caliphate". The group last week released a video showing its
members beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.
The abductions in Syria follow advances by Kurdish forces against
Islamic State in areas of the northeast near the Iraqi border - an
area of vital importance to the group as one of the bridges between
land it controls in Iraq and Syria.
"They want to show themselves strong, playing on the religion
string, at a time when they are being hit hard," said Rami
Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Observatory, speaking by
telephone.
The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, last
month drove Islamic State from the Syrian town of Kobani, since when
further signs of strain have been seen in the group's ranks.
KURDS INFLICT NEW LOSSES ON ISLAMIC STATE
The Assyrian Christians were taken from villages near the town of
Tel Tamr, some 20 km (12 miles) to the northwest of the city of
Hasaka. There has been no word on their fate. There have been
conflicting reports on where the Christians had been taken.
"These were peaceful villages that had nothing to do with the
battles," said Nasir Haj Mahmoud, a Kurdish official in the YPG
militia in northeastern Syria, speaking by telephone from the city
of Qamishli.
Some Christians are fighting under the umbrella of the YPG in Hasaka
province, but not in that area, he added.
The new Kurdish offensive launched at the weekend was focused on
dislodging Islamic State from areas some 100 km (60 miles) further
to the east, including Tel Hamis, a town that is one of its
strongholds.
The Observatory said at least 132 Islamic State fighters had been
killed in the fighting since Feb. 21. Mahmoud, the Kurdish official,
said seven members of the Kurdish YPG militia had been killed,
including one foreigner.
He said he did not know where the foreigner was from, but British
and U.S. citizens have gone to fight with the YPG against Islamic
State. A second Kurdish official confirmed a foreigner was
"martyred" but declined to give further details.
In a telephone interview from the city of Qamishli, he said the YPG
had cut a main road linking Tel Hamis with al-Houl, a town just a
few kilometers from the Iraqi border.
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"This is the main artery for Daesh," he said, using an acronym for
Islamic State. The Kurdish YPG militia had seized more than 100
villages from Islamic State in the area, he added.
"We believe we will finish the battle of Tel Hamis in this
campaign," he added.
Videos posted online by the YPG showed Kurdish fighters firing at
Islamic State positions in Hasaka.
OFFENSIVE WELL-ORGANIZED
The offensive underlines the emergence of the well-organized Syrian
Kurdish militia as the main partner for the U.S.-led alliance
against Islamic State in Syria.
Mainstream rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have mostly
been eclipsed by jihadists, complicating a U.S. plan to train and
equip Syrian opposition forces to fight Islamic State.
Washington has shunned the idea of partnering with the Damascus
government, seeing Assad as part of the problem. Syrian government
forces, waging a separate campaign against Islamic State, have made
advances against the group in Hasaka in recent weeks.
The latest fighting in Hasaka is one piece of the Syrian war that is
about to enter its fifth year and is being fought by an array of
forces on multiple frontlines.
Government forces and allied militia are waging their own campaign
against Islamic State, while also battling other insurgents
including mainstream rebels and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in
western areas that are mostly under state control.
A large offensive by government forces backed by the Lebanese group
Hezbollah earlier this month made swift progress in the south before
slowing, while an attempt to encircle rebel-held areas of the
northern city of Aleppo last week was repulsed, according to the
Observatory.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch accused the Syrian government on
Tuesday of carrying out hundreds of indiscriminate aerial attacks in
the past year, most with barrel bombs, in defiance of a United
Nations Security Council demand to stop.
(Additional reporting by Nadine Malla and Mariam Karouny; Writing by
Tom Perry; Editing by Nick Macfie and Peter Millership)
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