Tag: Qaryatain

IS ‘releases’ 50 Assyrian Christians

October 15, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Homs, Islamic State, Jizya, Qaryatain, Syria

The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has released 50 Assyrians among a large group of Christians snatched 10 weeks ago near the Syrian city of Homs, the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights (AMHR) reported. The freed indigenous Christians arrived back on October 12 at their Syriac towns of Zaidan and Fairozeh, . . . Read More

Catholic priest released in Syria

October 12, 2015 Syria Catholics, Homs, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Syria

Fr. Jacques Mourad was set free on Saturday, 10 Oct, nearly five months after masked Islamic State (IS) gunmen kidnapped the Syriac Catholic priest in Syria’s central Homs province. Church sources told Agence France Presse that Fr. Mourad celebrated Sunday mass the following day in Zaydal village, five kilometers from . . . Read More

Qaryatain Christians given 48-hour ultimatum

September 3, 2015 Syria Islamic State, Jizya, Qaryatain, Syria

A month after Islamic State (IS) forces captured Qaryatain city in Syria’s Suweida province, the militants have ordered the Christians still living in the city to either convert to Islam, pay the per capita jizya tax required of non-Muslims living under Islamic law, or leave the city within 48 hours. . . . Read More

Another ancient Assyrian monastery bulldozed

August 21, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Bashar al-Assad, Homs, Iraq, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Raqqa, Syria

Photographs posted Thursday on Twitter accounts linked to the Islamic State destroyed in the past six months by jihadist fighters. The 5th century Mar Elian Monastery in Syria’s western Homs province was located on the outskirts of Qaryatain city, captured by IS militants two weeks ago from Assad regime control. An . . . Read More

Jihadists release Syrian priest, 22 elderly Assyrians

August 19, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Boulos Yazigi, Catholics, Hasakah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Sadad, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Five weeks after Fr. Antoine Boutros and his driver were kidnapped on their way to Sunday mass in southern Syria’s Suweida province on July 12, the Catholic parish priest has been released. Disclosure of the 50-year-old priest’s release on Aug. 15 came from the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, . . . Read More

More Christians ‘abducted’ in Syria

August 7, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Homs, Kidnapping, Qaryatain, Refugees, Sunni, Syria

Islamic State has taken over a Syrian town southeast of Homs, its first major success since capturing Palmyra, a World Heritage site, in May 2015, about 100km to the northeast. At least 230 people are reported to have been abducted from Al-Quaryatayn, a town of 40,000 mainly Sunni Muslims and . . . Read More

Kidnapped priest still missing

May 27, 2015 Syria Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Kidnapping, Qaryatain, Syria

A Jesuit priest reportedly kidnapped in Syria last week by Islamic extremists is still missing, with no news of his whereabouts. Father Jacques Mourad was abducted in Qaryatayn on 21 May by four suspected Islamic State terrorists riding motorbikes, reported Aid to the Church in Need. A spokesperson from Open . . . Read More

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