IS releases 15 Christians in Syria

AFP, BEIRUT: At least 15 Syrian Christians who had been held by the Islamic State group in the central village of Al-Qaryatain were released Friday, monitoring groups said.
“A group of 15 Christians who had been under house arrest by IS in Al-Qaryatain were released and arrived in Fayrouzah,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
IS jihadists had taken at least 230 civilians hostage, including dozens of Christians, in the village in Syria’s Homs province in early August.
The Assyrian Monitor from Human Rights confirmed that the 15 Christians had arrived in Fayrouzah, five kilometres (three miles) southeast of Homs city, on Friday afternoon.
Citing a medical source, it said they “were in good health.”
According to Abdel Rahman, the group had been released after paying jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims.
Those released did not include Father Jacques Mourad, a Syriac Catholic priest who was kidnapped from a monastery in Al-Qaryatain in May by unknown assailants but who is in IS custody, he said.
A Vatican’s news outlet, Agence Fides, said Mourad and other Christian Syrians were in a “stable” situation and that local religious figures were negotiating their release.

IS releases 15 Christians in Syria

AFP, BEIRUT: At least 15 Syrian Christians who had been held by the Islamic State group in the central village of Al-Qaryatain were released Friday, monitoring groups said. A group of 15 Christians who had been under house arrest by IS in Al-Qaryatain were released and arrived in Fayrouzah, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. IS jihadists had taken at least 230 civilians hostage, including dozens of Christians, in the village in Syrias Homs province in early August. The Assyrian Monitor from Human Rights confirmed that the 15 Christians had arrived in Fayrouzah, five kilometres (three miles) southeast of Homs city, on Friday afternoon. Citing a medical source, it said they were in good health. According to Abdel Rahman, the group had been released after paying jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims. Those released did not include Father Jacques Mourad, a Syriac Catholic priest who was kidnapped from a monastery in Al-Qaryatain in May by unknown assailants but who is in IS custody, he said. A Vaticans news outlet, Agence Fides, said Mourad and other Christian Syrians were in a stable situation and that local religious figures were negotiating their release.