ASIA/SYRIA - Assyrian hostages: jihadists release two women

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Hassaké (Agenzia Fides) - Two elderly women in the group of more than 230 Assyrian Christians taken hostage in February by the State Islamic jihadists in the Syrian north-western region of Jazira, have been released and were admitted to a hospital in Hassaké to be treated for their health problems. We are talking about 80-year-old Ramziyya Rehana, of the village of Tel Jazira, and the 70-year-old Yoniyya Kanun, of the village of Tel Shamiram. According to a report by Assyrian Aina Agency, Mrs. Rehana has a broken femur, while Mrs. Kanun has problems related to under-nutrition.
The two women were part of the large group of more than 230 Assyrian Christians taken hostage by jihadists on 23 February, when the militia of the Islamic State attacked the predominantly Assyrian villages scattered along the valley of the river Khabur, forcing the civilian population of the area to a mass exodus. In recent days, all the villages on the river Khabur were freed by Kurdish militias, not without the convergent contribution of the Syrian army and air raids carried out by the US-led military coalition against the positions of the IS. The local population has started to return to their villages of origin - from the village of Tel Tamar – to find churches devastated and houses looted, with crosses eliminated from the places of Christian worship and anti-Christian slogans painted on the walls. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 27/05/2015)


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