ISIS is clearly feeling the pain after weeks of intense air strikes against it by the U.S.- led coalition fighting the spread of the terrorist organization in the Middle East.
Employing its familiar tactics, the Islamic State is now threatening to execute the 150 Assyrian Christians they have taken hostage in Syria.
While initial reports suggested that between 70 and 100 people had been taken captive, according to the Daily Mail the true figure is thought to be almost double , including many women, children and elderly people.
It is thought that a new ISIS video is in the making which will address American President Barack Obama. It will tell him that if the air strikes don’t stop, the 150 Christian hostages will be killed.
While the hostages were taken from villages in northeastern Syria, near to Tal Tamer, Osama Edward, founder of the Assyrian Human Rights Network said that, according to the latest information, the hostages have been moved to ISIS-controlled areas.
Fearing the worst for his Christian brothers and sisters, Edward told reporters that the situation as it stands is tenuous for them.
“Maybe they are facing the same destiny. That’s why we call on all over the world, like the U.S., Europe, coalition forces — protect Assyrians, save Assyrians in Syria. They are facing death, people are unarmed, they are peaceful. And they need help, they are just left alone — no one’s protecting them.”
For Assyrian Christians in the Middle East, life isn’t looking good, as at least 35 of their villages have been overrun and looted by ISIS, leaving thousands of people fleeing for their lives.
The International Business Times reported that the United States State Department condemns, in the “strongest possible terms,” the ISIS ethnic cleansing of the Middle East .
As U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, “Hundreds of other civilians remain trapped in villages surrounded by ISIL fighters, and clashes continue between ISIL and local forces defending their communities. ISIL burned and destroyed homes and churches, and the violence has reportedly displaced more than 3,000 people.”
While coalition air strikes have gone some way to curtailing the spread of ISIS , so far it’s a case of “too little too late” as the current situation with the 150 Christian hostages attests to.
[Image via Daily Mail]