Tag: Hasakah

‘Next time we will not survive’ – Middle East Christian refugee

November 12, 2018 Aleppo, Batnaya, Beirut, Hasakah, Iraq, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Lebanon, Middle East, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Raqqa, Refugees, Syria, UN

Boy outside a tent in a refugee camp in Lebanon. (Photo: World Vision)

As many as 80% of Syria’s Christians have left their country since the start of the civil war in 2011, while 50% of Iraq’s Christians have been uprooted since 2006, according to a report produced by Christian charities Open Doors International, Served and Middle East Concern last year, which said the . . . Read More

Syria’s Christian villages ‘hollowed out’ by IS

August 17, 2018 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria, Women

Before the war there were many churches in the area around Hassaka who held regular services, like this one in Tel Jezirah. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2009)

The Islamic State, following its defeat in Syria, has left behind hollowed-out Christian villages, reports the New York Times. Assyrian Christians, an indigenous Middle Eastern minority, once formed thriving farming communities along the Khabur River in Syria’s northeast. But when IS attacked the area in 2015, the militants demolished churches and kidnapped . . . Read More

Christian hostages reveal Syrian ransom saga

December 9, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria

Former Islamic State hostages have revealed that , launched by a Syrian bishop who rallied the Assyrian Christian diaspora around the world. , the Assyrian Christians were handled roughly and harassed repeatedly to convert to Islam. They expected to die, but within a week the IS militants sent 17 Assyrians . . . Read More

Kurdish YPG ‘occupy’ Assyrian villages in northeast Syria

October 4, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Chaldeans, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kurds, Syria

As fighting intensifies to retake areas of north-eastern Syria from the so-called Islamic State (IS), the media spotlight shows the complexity of the military picture. The Khabur River region in Syria’s Hasakah province was attacked by IS in February 2015. Thirty-five Assyrian villages were emptied; days later IS kidnapped and . . . Read More

Kurds ‘expel Christians’ in Hassaka

September 23, 2016 Syria Aleppo, Churches, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kurds, Qamishli, Syria

Christians are being targeted as Kurdish militia assert their control in Syria’s north-eastern city of Hassaka, a senior local Christian leader has said. “Whenever the Kurdish militia enter in action to reaffirm its military hegemony over the city, the epicentre of their raids and acts of force is always the . . . Read More

Aleppo church helped ‘almost 2,000 Muslim refugees’

August 19, 2016 Syria Aleppo, Armenians, Greek Orthodox, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kurds, Refugees, Syria

A church in the beleaguered Syrian city of Aleppo has opened its doors to Muslims as well as Christians fleeing the war. Nearly 2,000 Muslims have benefited from the help offered by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, including by the Church of Elias the Prophet, reported Ruptly.tv, an affiliate of Russia . . . Read More

Assyrian Christian girl released in Syria

March 29, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Qaryatain, Syria

An Assyrian Christian girl taken hostage 13 months ago by Islamic State (IS) militants in northeast Syria‘s Hasakah province has been set free after “intense negotiations” for her release. Miriam David Talya, who had been captured with more than 250 other Khabur villagers in Feb. 2015, arrived in Tel Tamar . . . Read More

Islamic State releases more Christian hostages

February 1, 2016 Syria Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Middle East, Qaryatain, Syria

Islamic State released 22 Assyrian hostages – mainly women and children – in Syria over the weekend. Sixteen of them were from the in Hasakah province in February 2015. The other six hostages released were taken in August from Qaryatain. Islamic State is still holding 73 of the 253 original hostages. There have . . . Read More

Latest Assyrian hostages’ release by ISIS

January 4, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Children, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria, Women

ISIS has released 25 of the Assyrian hostages it captured during the militant group’s February 2015 in Hassaka Province, northern Syria. The hostages were released in good health on Christmas day. Two of the hostages were men and the rest women and children. All the children belonged to six of . . . Read More

25 Assyrian captives freed

December 10, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria

Twenty-five Syrian Christians abducted by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in February have been released, . The freed captives, all of them men and which included two boys ages 7 and 9, were among 253 Assyrians captured during an IS attack on dozens of villages near the Khabur river in the Hasaka province, . . . Read More

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