ISIS Captures Syrian Town That is Home to Thousands of Christians

The Catholic Herald (UK) ^ | 8/6/15 | Staff Reporter

[marshmallow]

Takeover of town is a threat to monks at Mar Elian monastery

ISIS militants have captured Qaryatain, a key Syrian town populated by tens of thousands of Christians and a monastery.

The superior of the town’s Mar Elian monastery, Fr Jacques Mourad, was kidnapped by extremists in May along with a lay Christian, Boutros Hanna Dekermenjian.

Before his abduction Fr Mourad had taken in dozens of families and 100 children who had sought refuge from the fighting.

[huldah1776]

“According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS overwhelmed Assad forces after a wave of suicide bombings targeting army checkpoints.”

Personally, I think the Syrian Christians should join forces with the Kurds. He who lives with the sword, dies by the sword. Live free or die. Actually, during the Great Tribulation its, take up the sword and die or become a slave.

[PGalt]

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

[Claud]

Agreed but aren’t they on two opposite sides of ISIS? Might be hard to coordinate like that.

Prayers for the monastics and all the poor Christians there.

[MarvinStinson]

BAD.

[huldah1776]

“And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation....”

And there we have it. Low information.

[huldah1776]

I’ll have to check a map. There are Kurds in Syria.

[huldah1776]

Did Solzhenitsyn write one book that gave a counter-insurgency-operational plan? The insurgency being the bigger brother.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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Not a good sign

[Marcella]

ISIS will start killing the Christians and send the tape to YouTube so we can watch them being killed. Obama will continue to eat his dinner as though nothing happened. However, if an Arab Islamist Terrorist is killed, he will stop eating and pray to Allah.

[PGalt]

Did Solzhenitsyn write one book that gave a counter-insurgency-operational plan?

I do not know. I've only read "Gulag" and "A Day in the Life"…(and that was very long ago). Good comments/questions BUMP.

[MarMema]

very sad news.

[Does so]

The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers

Washington, D.C. needs an organ transplant.