Christian villages in NE Syria come under attack by ISIL

The Takfiri ISIL terrorists have attacked a number of Christian villages in Syria’s northeast, triggering heavy fighting with Kurdish forces and their local allies.

According to activists, the attacks, which started around dawn on Saturday, hit at least three villages near the town of Tal Tamer along the Khabur River in Hasakah Province.

Osama Edwards, the director of the Sweden-based Assyrian Network for Human Rights, said the center of the clashes was villages on the northern bank of the river as the ISIL terrorists are seeking to take the strategic town of Tal Tamer, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the city of Hasakah.

Edwards described the fighting as “very intensive, very violent,” adding that Tal Tamer is the main goal of the ISIL “to give them the corridor to the eastern border to Iraq.”

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported skirmishes around Tal Tamer, while noting that Kurdish fighters and local militiamen managed to push back the Takfiris, who had earlier made some advances.

The UK-based group added that some 10 ISIL militants were killed in the attack.

The ISIL terror group kidnapped over 220 Christians from several villages near Tel Tamer last month.

Over the past months, Assyrians, who come from one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, have been under increasing threat from the ISIL terrorists.

The ISIL militants, with members from several Western countries, control some parts of Syria and Iraq, and have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all ethnic and religious communities.

MR/HJL/SS

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