Since Monday, Islamic State militant have abducted at least 220 people from a string of Assyrian Christian villages in Syria's northeastern Hassakeh province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday. "ISIS now controls 10 Christian villages," Observatory head Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters. "They have taken the people they kidnapped away from the villages and into their territory."
The ISIS offensive has sent Assyrian villagers fleeing to the province's major towns, which are being defended by Kurdish fighters. The fate of the Christian hostages and their location is not known. ISIS has not acknowledged the abductions. Assyrian Christians trace their lineage to ancient Mesopotamia.
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