ICC Note: When ISIS took control of Assyrian Christian villages in NE Syria they sent thousands of residents fleeing for their lives. ISIS has now been driven out, but they’ve left destruction in their wake. The St. Mary’s Assyrian Church was destroyed. A number of other mines are believed to have been left behind in an attempt to claim even more lives as people attempt to return to their homes.
05/28/2015 Syria (Aleteia) Aleteia has obtained this photo of St. Mary’s Assyrian Church in the northeastern Syrian village of Tal Nasri.
“The church was exploded and damaged by IS as they controlled the village,” said Father Emanuel Youkhana, who heads the humanitarian aid group in Iraq called CAPNI–Christian Aid Program.
Islamic State militants reportedly boobytrapped the church on Easter Sunday this year. Since February, they had controlled many of the villages of the Khabur River valley, a predominantly Christian area, but relinquished control recently due to a commbination of US airstrikes, Syrian military assaults and Kurdish and Assyrian military opposition.
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