Beirut: The Islamic State group have kidnapped at least 90 Assyrian Christians in northeast Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
The Britain-based monitor said the abductions took place on Tuesday after IS seized two Assyrian villages from Kurdish forces in the province of Hassakeh.
On February 15, the Islamic State militant group released a video purporting to show the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped in Libya. Egypt’s Coptic Church confirmed that the 21 workers were dead.
In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange jump suits, to a beach the group said was near Tripoli. They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded.
Following the incident, Egypt’s military carried out air strikes against the militant group’s targets in Libya at dawn on February 16.
“Your armed forces on Monday carried out focused air strikes in Libya against Daesh camps, places of gathering and training, and weapons depots,” the military said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS. (AFP)
