Christians in Syria Targeted for Kidnapping

Christians in Syria Targeted for Kidnapping -Criminal gangs collude with Islamic extremist mercenaries, refugees say.
ICC Note: Similar to Iraq following the outbreak of war in 2003, Christians in Syria are being kidnapped in return for ransom. If the family is unable to pay ransom, the Christian is often killed. Due to kidnappings and rising persecution, hundreds of Christians have fled Syria to neighboring Turkey and Lebanon. “There is a silent exodus of Christians from Syria,” Nuri Kino, a Swedish journalist of Assyrian background, told Morning Star News. “Unfortunately there are signs that what happened in Iraq is happening here – there are kidnappings, rapes, and YouTube videos put up of people being forcibly converted to Islam.”
2/19/2013 Syria (MSN) -These refugees are among the thousands of Syrian Orthodox fleeing to nearby Middle East countries and Europe.
Those that flee to Europe face dangers by entrusting themselves to smugglers, who have created a multimillion dollar human trafficking business in the fallout of the war. Christians who stay in Syria risk attacks and executions by extremists. Either way, church leaders and activists fear Syria will soon lose its Christian population.
“There is a silent exodus of Christians from Syria,” Nuri Kino, a Swedish journalist of Assyrian background, told Morning Star News. “Unfortunately there are signs that what happened in Iraq is happening here – there are kidnappings, rapes, and YouTube videos put up of people being forcibly converted to Islam.”
Before the war, 1.4 million Christians lived in Syria, or 6.3 percent of the population of the Muslim-majority nation, according to Operation World. It is unclear how many remain now.
“It’s hell out there in Syria,” Kino said. “The Christians have a lack of faith and hope and are massively fleeing the country. They don’t believe someone is speaking out for them.”
Christians in Syria dwell among many other ethnic and religious groups, including Arabs, Kurds, Alawites and Druze. Assyrians are the largest Christian ethnic group. They speak Syriac, a Semitic dialect similar to the spoken language of Jesus, and have been established in the country since Christianity’s beginning.
Christians have been vulnerable since the beginning of the civil war that has left 60,000 dead. Unlike ethnic groups, they do not have armed militias to protect themselves and are scattered across the country. As a result, kidnappings of Christians have accelerated due to the perception that they are wealthy and lack armed security.
In the city of Hassaké, 50 Christians were kidnapped last month. Most recently, a Christian pharmacist was kidnapped earlier this month and held for a ransom of approximately 11,000 euros.
Many of those kidnapped are doctors, lawyers and other professionals, but now the poor are beginning to be kidnapped, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hassaké-Nisibi Jacques Behnan Hindo told Fides News Agency.
In the wake of such dangers, an intricate human smuggling ring has sprung up to profit off Assyrians fleeing inter-ethnic violence. Kino, who conducted interviews with more than 100 Assyrian refugees, released a report in early February entitled “Between the Barbed Wire” that describes the hardships refugees face and the atrocities Christians encounter in Syria.
In one case, smugglers packed a young man named Jacob into a shipping container with 70 other refugees for hours. They traveled four days to Italy in a tiny boat’s cargo hold and were forced to swim for shore a mile off.
Despite paying at least $17,000 to the smugglers, the refugees were forced at gunpoint to hike through miles of forest, squeeze into small spaces with little air, and go for days without food or water. Thirty of the 70 drowned since they could not swim after being stranded in a boat in the middle of a river.
…
“When it happened in Iraq, nobody believed Syria’s turn would come,” Youkhana told Shea. “Behind the daily reporting about bombs there is an ethno-religious cleansing taking place, and soon Syria can be emptied of its Christians.”
…
[Full Story]