Christians, others feared kidnapped in Syria
AMMAN, Jordan – Human rights and church groups voiced concern Friday for the fate of hundreds of civilians, including many Christians, reportedly kidnapped by the Islamic State militant group in Syria’s Homs province.
Amid conflicting accounts, Amnesty International called for the release of detainees from the town of Qaryatain, 45 miles southeast of Homs, the provincial capital.
“The abhorrent abduction in Syria of more than 200 people by Islamic State highlights the dreadful plight of civilians caught up in the conflict in the country,” Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International’s Syria researcher, said in a statement Friday.
The international human rights organization called on Islamic State to “respect the rules of war and immediately release those civilians unharmed.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition watchdog group based in England, said the extremists had detained 230 civilians, including “scores” of Christians, from Qaryatain, which was overrun last week.
Among those taken were 45 women and 19 children, the observatory said. The group said at least 800 people were still missing from the town, once home to about 14,000 people.
The Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese in Homs said negotiations with the militants had secured the release of 200 Christian families, although 100 families remained in custody. Those released were taken to the nearby village of Saddad, the archdiocese said in a letter.
But others disputed the abduction reports, saying no families had been held. Much of the population fled as IS militants approached the town, according to social media accounts.
“There is no detaining of any family from the Christians or others,” said an opposition activist who runs a Facebook page titled “Qaryatain Around the Clock,” and asked not to be identified by his real name due to security concerns. “At least half the population left already, and others left but have returned.”
He described those detained by Islamic State as suspected “regime collaborators.”