Assyrian Christians Hostages Were Told to Convert to Islam

The Catholic Herald (UK) ^ | 3/9/15 | Staff Reporter

[marshmallow]

Two of the Assyrian Christian hostages released by ISIS have spoken to the media

Two of the Assyrian Christian hostages released by ISIS have spoken to the media about their ordeal.

Some 200 Christians were taken by the Islamist group on February 23 after they stormed a number of villages in the north-east of the country.

One of the hostages, going by the name ‘Peter’, told the Times: “They entered our village at five in the morning, while everyone was sleeping. Some of them were Syrians, some were Chinese, some Russian – people who didn’t speak Arabic. They took 17 men, three women and one young girl and put us on the back of pick-up trucks with our heads covered. We don’t know why they took us – we didn’t do anything,”

He saw the ISIS men looting their houses and setting fire to them.

Another hostage, named as ‘Robert’, told the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) that the hostages were placed in small rooms and asked to convert.

[Albion Wilde]

Assyrian Hostage Released By ISIS: We Cannot Go Back to Our Homes

You can scan the titles of this list of news stories below from the Assyrian news agency to see ISIS's systematic ethnic cleansing of Christians from Syria. Or you can go to the top link here to get hot links to all the stories listed:

Attacks on Assyrians in Syria By ISIS and Other Muslim Groups

2015
3/7 ISIS Crosses River in New Attacks on Assyrian Villages in Syria
3/4 Assyrian Hostage Released By ISIS: We Cannot Go Back to Our Homes
3/3 ISIS Releases 4 More Assyrians, Including 6 Year-old Mariana
3/1 19 Assyrians Released By ISIS But Hundreds Remain Captured
3/1 Assyrians Protest ISIS Attacks on Assyrians in Syria
3/1 Conflicting Reports on Release of Some of the Assyrians Held By ISIS
2/27 Negotiations for the Release of Assyrians Captured By ISIS Still Ongoing
2/26 Up to 373 Assyrians Captured By ISIS, Executions Have Begun
2/26 Assyrians Captured By ISIS Now At 150, Negotiations for Their Release in Progress
2/24 Assyrian Hostages in Syria Are 'Safe', Says ISIS Member
2/23 ISIS Attacks Assyrian Villages in Syria, 4 Killed, Dozens Captured, Churches Burned

2014
5/1 ISIS Destroys 3000 Year-old Assyrian Artifacts in Syria
1/23 Two Assyrians Killed in Syria
10/2 Three Assyrians Kidnapped in Syria
7/31 Assyrians Leaving Hassakah, Syria for Fear of ISIS
6/1 Assyrian Boy Killed By Sniper in Syria

2013
10/30 Al-Qa'ida Desecrates Church in Syria
9/24 Syrian Christian Converts to Islam At Hands of Al-Qaeda
9/23 Syrian Jihadist Rebels Murder Assyrian Man for Being Christian
8/9 Syrian Rebels Destroy Orthodox Church in Al-Thawrah
8/4 Syrian Rebels to Assyrians: Convert to Islam to Keep Your Jobs
7/30 Assyrian Village in Syria Attacked By Muslims
4/22 Syrian Bishops Kidnapped By Rebels
4/18 Islamist Ultimatum to Syrian Christians: Convert, Leave, or Die
4/7 500 Assyrians From Syria Flee to Turkey in Last 3 Days
4/3 Assyrian Man Kidnapped and Killed in Syria
1/31 Bus Attacked in Syria, Several Killed and Wounded
1/18 25,000 Christians Besieged By Muslim Rebels in Hasaka, Syria

2012
11/20 Third Attack in New Assyrian Quarter in Aleppo, Scores Injured and Killed
5/12 Jihadists Seize Christian Village in Syria, Expel Its Residents