ICC Note: For those who have any doubts about ISIS violent hostility towards Christians, this piece explains the extreme measures they are going to forbid any presence of Christianity in the lands that they control. “Talk of Christmas and Christian occasions is forbidden under ISIS,” one researcher said.
12/24/2014 Syria (Al-Arabiya) After a year of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria purging Christian minorities from its self-declared caliphate, Iraqi and Syrian Christians are facing muted celebrations this Christmas.
“Talk of Christmas and Christian occasions is forbidden under ISIS,” said Sulaiman Youssef, a Syrian researcher on minorities.
“The group has destroyed, torched and looted all churches, and barred any display of Christian faith. They also forced the hijab and Islamic way of dress on Christian women, and killed several Christian men for refusing to obey their orders.”
Faced with the option of either paying a tax, converting to Islam or fleeing, almost no Christians now live in ISIS-controlled areas in Syria, Youssef said.
When ISIS first rose to power – in the Syrian cities of Raqqa, Tabaqa and Deir al-Zour – churches were destroyed or repurposed for militant uses.
ISIS fighters also robbed the belongings of Christians and confiscated their homes, properties and shops.…
