Reports ISIL took a Khabour village full of a religious minority hostage.

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Reports ISIL took a Khabour village full of a religious minority hostage.HT: Elijah J. Magnier.

George Kasten from Sweden:

At 5.00 clock this morning, the 23rd of February 2015, IS members entered the Assyrian villages around Tell Tamr in Syria by force and kidnapped all of the villagers.

The men were later brought to a mountain called Abd al Aziz to be held as hostages. The women and children were left in the village with IS guards controlling them.

A witness left behind due to his poor health was able to raise the alarm and informed his family member in Canada who then spread the word about the latest atrocities of IS.

This information is from a primary source and roughly 70% of those kidnapped belong to the same family. We have called their cellphones; whereupon IS soldiers have answered and told us that we should not call any longer since we cannot do anything about their situation.

IS members have been very clear with their demands. They want the Kurds to release the IS hostages they are currently holding. IS members say that if they do not release the hostages, all innocent men from the village will die. Reports talk of several hundreds of people. More can be found on Facebook here. And here

Richard Spencer of the Telegraph reports on Khabur: "Christian groups said they were checking a report that up to 200 civilians had been kidnapped by Isil jihadists in the fighting and were being held as hostages. 

A number of fighters from the militia, the Syriac Military Council, were also said to be missing.

The council, known by the initials MFS from its title in Aramaic, the ancient language of the Christian church, was founded in 2013 as jihadists began to dominate more of northern Syria.

It is allied to the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia involved in the defence of the town of Kobane, and on Sunday joined it in a drive against Isil in the north-eastern province of Hassakeh.

On Sunday night, it claimed to have driven the jihadists out of 22 villages, including a string of settlements occupied by the Assyrian Catholic minority* between Hassakeh town and the Turkish border.

The attack was backed by bombing raids from the US-led coalition against Isil, which said it had carried out 11 air strikes in Hassakeh on Sunday, hitting 10 Isil tactical units and destroying two Isil vehicles, a bunker and a “fighting position”. *The vast majority of Khabur Assyrians are not Catholic.

Confirmed #IS has gathered all #Assyrians in school building in village of Tel Shamiran in #Syria. Most are women, children and old ppl.
— Afram Yakoub (@AframYakoub) February 23, 2015