The Islamic State has released 19 Assyrians after they abducted an estimated 220 members of an Assyrian community in Northern Syria. The abduction is just one in a staggering series of attacks towards Christian communities in the Middle East. Earlier this year, the State beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya.
IS fighters took control over several Assyrian towns in Northern Syria along the Khabur River, which were previously in hands of Kurdish forces. The stateless Assyrians have been a minority group in the Middle East ever since the fall of their empire in 612 BC, but pressure has largely increased since the IS’ presence in Syria.
An estimated 400,000 Assyrians live in Syria at the moment, though experts think a large percentage of the Assyrian community has fled Syria after the power of IS grew.
The Kurdish forces have been in ongoing clashes with the Islamic State, especially since the battle of Kobane, a Kurdish border city that was occupied by the Islamic State in October last year. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units regained control over the city in January this year.
In February, the British armed forces launched an anti-Isis coalition with Peshmerga, the military forces in Iraqi Kurdistan. At the moment, around 40 British soldiers are instructing Peshmerga fighters, who started gaining military experience by fighting Saddam Hussein’s army.
The coalition between the Kurdish forces and the West is just one of the many steps taken to fight the ever-growing Islamic State. The State has a growing support from a small group of young European Muslims, likely affected by the Islamophobia in the West.
The USA and European countries have also received criticism for their steps to instruct Kurdish forces in Iraq as some people blame the Islamic State’s military capability on the fact that Iraqi soldiers were trained by Western military advisers during the Iraq war.
Recently, Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram pledged its allegiance to ISIS. Rumours of Boko Haram’s previous ties with Al-Qaeda had already been surfacing for a long time.
According to local correspondents, leaders of the Assyrian community are working together with Sunni sheiks to negotiate with the Islamic State.
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