ISIS- SYRIA-THREAD

[Anthea]

Reuters

Islamic State abducts dozens of Christians from Syrian town

Islamic State militants have captured dozens of Christian families after seizing a strategically located town in the central Syrian province of Homs, a monitor said on Friday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 230 people were kidnapped or detained, 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.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said the Christians were "either kidnapped from checkpoints or raids or from churches."

Among those seized were 45 women and 19 children, including 11 families, some of whom were on a militants' wanted list, said the monitor that tracks the war's violence through an extensive network of sources on the ground.

There were also hundreds of residents, Muslims and Christians, whose families have lost touch with them since the militants captured the area, according to Abdulrahman.

Qaryatain is near a road linking the ancient city of Palmyra to the Qalamoun mountains, along the border with Lebanon.

The hardline militant group has been gaining ground in the desert areas east and south of Homs after it took over the ancient Roman city of Palmyra last May.

The Syrian army has launched a large-scale counteroffensive to recapture the city, which lies in a region where some of Syria's largest gas fields are located. But so far has made no significance advances.

An army statement said its forces had targeted "terrorist outposts" in the area and killed scores of militants but did not confirm the capture of the town by the militants.

An Assyrian Christian group said these abductions were the latest in a string of events that targeted their community, one of the oldest Christian populations in the Middle East.

Two priests, Father Yacoub Murad and Monk Petros, who ran two monasteries in the area, went missing last May from the town of Qaryatain, according to the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights, a Christian lobby group.

The group said at least 1,400 families had fled the town to safer areas or took shelter in the government-controlled city of Homs.

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. That mass abduction coincided with an offensive in the same region by Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes.

The fate of many of these civilians is unclear, as is that of a number of other priests who have gone missing and are believed to be held by the militants, according to Christian groups.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/08/0 ... SN20150807

[Anthea]

BBC News

Syrian archaeologist 'killed in Palmyra' by IS militants



The archaeologist who looked after ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria is reported to have been killed by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Khaled Asaad was taken hostage by the group after it seized the Unesco World Heritage site earlier this year.

The family of the 82-year-old scholar said he had been beheaded by IS fighters, according to Syria's director of antiquities, Maamoun Abdulkarim.

Mr Asaad had spent more than 50 years working on Palmyra.

He was head of antiquities at the ruins, one of the archaeological jewels of the Middle East.

'Curse on the city'

On Tuesday, Mr Abdulkarim said the scholar's family told him that Mr Asaad had been killed and his body hung from a column in Palmyra's main square.

"Just imagine that such a scholar who gave such memorable services to the place and to history would be beheaded," Mr Abdulkarim said.

"The continued presence of these criminals in this city is a curse and bad omen on [Palmyra] and every column and every archaeological piece in it."


Palmyra is considered one of the most important historical sites in the Middle East

IS fighters, who control large areas of Syria and Iraq, captured the site from Syrian government forces in May.

The group has previously destroyed ancient ruins in Syria and Iraq but it is unclear how much damage they have caused at Palmyra.

UN cultural organisation Unesco says its destruction would be "an enormous loss to humanity".

Syrian troops have sought to drive IS militants out of the area in recent months and there has been fierce fighting in nearby towns - but the group remains in control of Palmyra.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33984006

[Anthea]

BBC News

Syria crisis: Rebels 'leave Homs' under truce

Syrian rebels have begun evacuating the last area they hold in the city of Homs under a ceasefire deal reached with the government, a monitoring group has said.

The deal means the entire city returns to government control.

Those leaving are due to go to areas of Idlib province still in rebel hands.

Homs, in central Syria, was once dubbed the "capital of the revolution" and saw some of the first protests against President Bashar al-Assad, in 2011.

The first bus has left the rebel-held area of al-Waer in Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said

About 800 people, including rebel fighters and civilians, are due to leave throughout Wednesday, the observatory said.

Under the UN-backed ceasefire, food aid has reached the neighbourhood for the first time in nearly a year.

Ahead of the deal, the Syrian authorities said they released 35 opposition fighters detained in Homs.

"We wish for the best," said one resident. "What do we want but safety?"

This very sensitive and significant deal has been reached after more than two years of sporadic negotiations.

Under the first phase of the agreement, hundreds of fighters, including those linked to al-Qaeda, will leave the besieged neighbourhood.

More moderate groups who have accepted the ceasefire will remain in al-Waer for the moment.

Syrian activists criticise such deals as surrenders forced by punishing blockades.

But the Syrian government, which has concluded similar deals in other areas, sees them as the best way to end the fighting on its own terms. And in some areas they have allowed some groups to keep their weapons and some control over their own communities.

Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has long been of geographic, strategic and economic importance. Before the uprising its population was estimated at 1.5 million.

Protests erupted in the city in the early days of the revolt against President Assad in 2011.

Soon, thousands of Homs residents were taking part in demonstrations despite a brutal crackdown by security forces and pro-Assad militiamen that left dozens dead.

But in 2012 the Syrian military began a major operation to retake the city, bombarding rebel-held areas, an assault that trapped thousands of civilians.

Last year a UN-brokered deal saw rebels pull out of one of their last remaining strongholds, the Old City.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35048404

[Anthea]

Anthea: I remember the start of the revolution in Homs

I remember the innocent unarmed student protest

I remember the young man with the sweet voice who sung anti government songs (shamefully I have forgotten his name)

I remember the few cars being overturned - all fairly innocent actions

I remember the first of the armed rebels and the army deserters moving into Homs

I remember how the innocent people of Homs slowly became overrun by the incoming tide of violent armed miscreants

I remember when the singing stopped

[Anthea]

BBC News

Syria conflict: 'Islamic State' Homs bomb attack kills 16



The so-called Islamic State (IS) says it was behind a bomb attack that killed at least 16 people in the government-controlled Syrian city of Homs.

The group said one of its militants set off the car bomb among "rafidis" - a derogatory term for Shia Muslims.

The attack comes just days after rebels began evacuating the area under a ceasefire deal with the government.

IS has been expanding towards Homs in recent months.

"Abu Ahmed al-Homsi parked his car in the Zahra neighbourhood and exploded it among the 'rafidis' before detonating his explosives belt," IS said in a statement.

It claimed to have carried out two blasts, killing more than 25 people and wounding 70. Officials say 16 people were killed in a single explosion.

The vehicle used was filled with 150kg (330lb) of explosives and caused a gas cylinder to blow up in a nearby shop shortly after, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (Sana) said.

The first bomb exploded near a hospital in the al-Zahra area on Saturday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi condemned the attacks, saying they would "not discourage the Syrian people", according to Sana.

Government forces were able to tighten control of Homs following the implementation of a UN-backed truce deal in al-Wair, the last rebel-held area in the city.

About 700 people, made up of rebels and their families, are thought to have left Homs and travelled to rebel-held areas of Idlib province on Wednesday.

Fighters linked to al-Qaeda were among those due to leave, but moderate groups who accepted the ceasefire were expected to remain.

Homs: Syrian revolution's fallen 'capital'

Peaceful protests against President Assad erupt into violence in Homs mid-March 2011

By the middle of 2012, up to a fifth of Homs is in opposition hands

In the same year the Syrian military launches an operation to crush resistance. Districts are bombarded, leaving civilians trapped, and the government re-takes key districts

By January 2014, only the Old City and al-Wair are still held by the opposition. A ceasefire is reached in the Old City after warnings about the dire humanitarian situation

In 2015, under a similar deal, rebels begin evacuating al-Wair

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35084633