Assyrian Forces Request International Support After IS Offensive

Local forces battling Islamic State militants in northeast Syria are asking the international community for military equipment "capable of changing the balance of power on the ground," as hundreds of area residents remain missing after an IS offensive. "We call on the international community and all democratic forces in the world to stand up against these violations and crimes, as they do not pose a threat to the Christian Syriac presence only, but to democracy and universal values of civilization..." the general command of the Syriac Military Council, known as MFS, said in an online statement Thursday. The number of abductions in the primarily Assyrian Christian region of Khabour remains unclear, with militias and monitoring groups estimating 150 to 400 people are missing. Reporting from Syria, journalist Zana Omer told VOA local forces said they pushed back IS militants from villages along the Khabour river following the attacks earlier this week, but fighting continues. A spokesman for security forces in the Kurdish region of northern Syria known as Rojava, Mouhamed Khello, told VOA the Islamic State group “is trying to incite religious strife in the region" with the offensive against the Assyrian Christian villages. Kurdish fighters backed by days of airstrikes from a U.S.-led military coalition have also been battling the militants in the area. The Islamic State group has targeted religious minorities with kidnappings and killings during its spread across northern Iraq and Syria. The MFS, which had regularly updated social media since Monday's IS offensive, said Islamic State militants first imposed the "jizya," a tax on non-Muslims, on residents in the Khabour, then removed crosses from churches. In addition to those kidnapped in the province, activists said thousands more have fled from their homes to the main cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli. The United States has condemned the offensive. Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department called for the immediate release of the kidnapped Christians. "The international community stands united and undeterred in its resolve to bring an end to [Islamic State's] depravity," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said late Wednesday. (VOA's Kurdish service contributed to this report.)



from Voice of America http://ift.tt/1LMyjl9