HASAKAH, Syria
Daesh has abducted 90 Christians in northern Syria’s Hasakah province, a U.K.-based non-governmental organization said Tuesday.
Daesh abducted 90 Assyrian Christians from the villages of Tal Hormoz and Tal Shamiram near Tal Tamr town in Hasakah, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The abduction came in the aftermath of Daesh attacks Monday in which it seized control of Tal Tamr town’s al-Aghibash, Tal Hormoz, Tal Shamiram, Tal Nasri and Kasr Toma villages.
A local activist said clashes took place between Kurdish groups and Daesh in some villages near Tal Tamr town, the statement added.
Assyrians are one the oldest ethnic groups that converted to Christianity in Asia. The community is located in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran apart from immigrants who moved to Europe and the U.S.
Also Tuesday, 14 Daesh militants were killed in U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes in the province’s Tal Hemis village near al-Qamishli town, the observatory added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a Britain-based group that opposes the Syrian regime and monitors the conflict using a network of activists and medical resources inside Syria.
The figures and reports provided by the group could not be independently verified.
Syria has been gripped by violence since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict that left at least 210,000 people dead and displaced almost half of the country's population, according to the UN.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group.
