Tag Archives: Syria

Syrian Government Bombs Civilians in Douma

The Syrian government has killed over 100 civilians in a series of airstrikes on a marketplace and other buildings in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

Syrian warplanes attacked the suburb Sunday and Monday with Sunday’s initial attack on a market killing over 80 civilians including women and children.

“In some places there was not enough capabilities to transfer the victims. It was very painful to see dead human bodies just left on the sidewalk,” said Abdullah al-Shami, a media activist, told CNN. “Scores of injured were bleeding while waiting their turn to get treatment.”

“It was really difficult to identify the bodies of the martyrs. Some of them were burned to the bone, so we couldn’t add them to the documented list,” said a 28-year-old spokesman of the Syrian Civil Defense Force, who declined to give his real name to Reuters for security reasons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Syrian troops waited after the initial attack for rescue personnel to arrive on the scenes of the bombings and then struck the same areas with a second volley.

The United Nations issued a swift condemnation of the attacks, saying that the “attacks on civilians are unlawful, unacceptable and must stop”.

The White House also issued a strong condemnation of the actions of the Syrian government.

“This latest tragedy is just another reminder of the inhumane acts perpetrated daily by the Asad regime against the Syrian people,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.  “The regime is responsible for killing thousands of innocent Syrian civilians and destroying entire towns and cities, historical sites, schools, mosques, markets, and hospitals.  These abhorrent actions underscore that the Asad regime has lost legitimacy and that the international community must do more to enable a genuine political transition.”

(Misspellings of the Syrian regime listed in the quote above were done purposefully, as that is how the White House spells the regime’s name.)

ISIS Kidnaps Over 200 Syrians

Islamic terrorist group ISIS seized control of a key village in the province of Homs, kidnapping around 230 people including initially at least 60 Christians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Friday that the terrorists have taken control of the heavily populated town of Qaryatain.  The town of about 40,000 people is located in the middle of a triangle formed by Homs, Palmyra and Damascus.  Many residents who fled Homs because of the terrorist group had fled to Qaryatain.

SOHR reported that 60 Christians had been kidnapped by the group but the head of the Christian Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria told the Associated Press that half of the Christians were released and fled to nearby villages.

Reuters reported that some of the Christians were seized from a monastery in the city.

SOHR also said that 45 women and 19 children were among those taken by the terrorists.

Officials said that around 1,400 families in the city have fled the city, most of them traveling to Homs, which is now under the control of government forces.

Kidnapping of Christians and residents is a standard tactic for the terrorist group.  In March, the group kidnapped 230 Christians and demanded $23 million in ransom for their release.

Turkish President in China

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in China for an official state visit.

Erdogan will be meeting in Beijing with his counterpart, Xi Jinping.

The visit is the first for Erdogan since his election as president in 2014 and the first since Turkey agreed to work with the U.S. to eliminate terrorist group ISIS in parts of Syria.

Erdogan traveled to China with around 100 business owners and leaders in what’s expected to be a discussion of trade deals.  The trade between the two nations has reached about $24 billion a year.

However, some believe that the current Syrian crisis will cause Erdogan to try and purchase a long-range missile system which has been a source of concern to Turkey’s fellow NATO members.

Turkey and China have also had issues regarding illegal immigration in southeast Asia of Muslims.  Last month, there were protests in Turkey after a group of Muslims illegally crossed from China to Thailand and then were returned to China.

“It’s quite obvious that the current Turkish government is supporting illegal immigration of Uighurs by giving them passports and working with Southeast Asian countries,” said Yin Gang an expert on the Middle East with the government-supported Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “It would be hard for the relationship between China and Turkey to improve significantly unless Turkey makes serious promises on that issue.”

Belgium Rescues Over 200 Syrian Christians In Secret Operation

The Belgian government has carried out a secret operation to rescue 240 people, over 200 of them Christians, from the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The Christians will be taken to Belgium and offered asylum by the Belgian government.

The secret two-month operation is still being mostly shrouded in secrecy by the Belgian government, likely to keep sources protected from Islamic extremists in the region.

“We did it via civil society organizations which could get them out of there,” said a foreign ministry spokesperson.

“The minority Christians were selected by a citizen ‘action committee’ run by a Belgian diplomat and a psychiatrist with a network of contacts in the country,” AFP news agency wrote. “They left Aleppo in small groups and in seven phases.”

Belgium has taken in about 5,500 refugees from Syria since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

“This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation,” UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty.”

ISIS Destroys Syrian Artifacts

ISIS terrorists smashed cultural artifacts from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra according to a statement from the terrorists and from Syrian state media outlets.

Terrorists caught a man smuggling six ancient statues through Aleppo province and then destroyed the statues after he was taken to an “Islamic court” in Manbij.

“An IS checkpoint in Wilyat arrested a person transporting several statues from Palmyra,” the group said in an online statement. “The guilty party was taken to an Islamic court in the town of Minbej, where it was decided that the trafficker would be punished and the statues destroyed.”

The statues “appear to be eight statues stolen from the tombs in Palmyra. The destruction is worse than the theft because they cannot be recovered,” Maamoun Abdelkarim, Syria’s Antiquities Director, told the London Guardian.

Also reported destroyed was a 2,000 year old statue of a lion that was outside the museum in Palmyra discovered during a 1977 archaeological mission.

“IS members on Saturday destroyed the Lion of al-Lat, which is a unique piece that is three metres [10ft] tall and weighs 15 tonnes,” Abdelkarim told AFP. “It’s the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra’s heritage.”

Abdelkarim said the items destroyed by the terrorists were “priceless.”

ISIS Plants Land Mines At Historic Sites

Islamic terrorist group ISIS has planted land mines around some of the world’s most ancient sites according to the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The group told Sky News they had evidence the mines were places around the ancient ruins in the city of Palmyra on Saturday.

The ancient site was overtaken by the Islamic extremists last month and many major world leaders feared they would destroy the ancient parts of the city in the same manner they destroyed ancient tombs and churches in other captured villages.  However, the terrorists have not destroyed the buildings and even used an amphitheater to force residents to watch executions.

“It is not known if the purpose is to blow up the ruins or to prevent regime forces from advancing into the town,” Rami Abdul Rahan, SOHR Director, told Sky News.

A Syrian antiquities official confirmed the report.

“We have preliminary information from residents saying that this is correct, they have laid mines at the temple site,” Maamoun Abdulkarim said. “I hope that these reports are not correct, but we are worried.”

Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was the destination of hundreds of thousands of visitors a year before the Syrian civil war.

American Christian Dies Fighting ISIS

An American who recently became a Christian died while fighting ISIS terrorists alongside Kurdish forces in Syria.

The State Department confirmed that Keith Broomfield, 36, was killed fighting with the Kurdish Protection Unit.  He is believed to be the first American to die after volunteering to fight against the terrorists.

Keith’s mother, Donna Broomfield, said that Keith found Christ and said that God told him to stop the terrorists.

“He turned his life over to the Lord and he decided this was God’s will and God wanted him to do it,” she said.

Jennifer Broomfield, Keith’s sister, posted on Facebook what she said was the last text message conversation between herself and her brother.

“I’m gonna do what I got to do,” Keith wrote.  “Sometimes you got to be a man whether you want to or not. I don’t expect anyone to understand but I don’t need anyone to either.  I appreciate your concern and take it as kindness.”

“My brother died to defend my sisters who are being sold, enslaved, raped and murdered. To defend my brothers who are shot beheaded and dumped into piles off trucks,” Jennifer Bloomfield added.

A Kurdish official said that Keith’s body was returned to his family at the Turkish border on Thursday.

Army Website Hit By Syrian Hackers

The U.S. Army’s official website was taken down Monday by hackers who claim they were the Syrian Electronic Army.

The attack forced the Army to take army.mil offline to protect from further damage.

The hacking comes less than a week after the discovery of Chinese hackers breaking into several important federal government servers that housed the personal information of millions of federal employees.

“Today an element of the Army.mil service provider’s content was compromised,” Army Brig. Gen. Malcolm Frost said in a statement. “After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the website temporarily.”

The Syrian Electronic Army launched in 2011 with a stated goal of attacking the enemies of the Syrian government.  They claim to not be officially connected to the Syrian government.

The Army has been the target of hacking in the recent past.  Five months ago the website was hit by pro-ISIS hackers who posted messages on the Army’s YouTube and twitter accounts.

ISIS Terrorists Control Half of Syria

Islamic terrorist group ISIS officially captured the ancient city of Palmyra on May 20th, meaning the terrorists now control over half of Syria.

The United Nations is particularly concerned about the fall of Palmyra, which is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“Palmyra tells us all cultures are linked. There’s no pure culture, no point in imposing a single culture on others,” Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, said.

Tim Muret of Open Doors told the Christian Post that the news is covering Palmyra because of the UNESCO connection but that many Christian villages being destroyed by the terrorists are being ignored.

“This certainly makes a lot of news in the states because this is a UNESCO heritage site, but the kidnappings, killings, and all the villages being destroyed usually don’t make the news.  These too have historical significance, and many of the villages are Christian,” declared Muret. “We do our best as an organization to educate churches that what you see in the news is really just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Palmyra is an another example of how IS has no regard for civilization or human life,” added Muret.

Muret also added because of the terrorists the Christian population in Syria has significantly declined over the last few years.

“The number of Christians has now dwindled down to 1.1 million or about 5 percent of the Syrian population.” Muret emphasized that Christian villages and populations are essential heritage sites too, “because those populations and much of that culture is the cradle of some of the earliest Christian communities.” The Apostle Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, which at the time had a rapidly expanding Christian population.

British Citizens Returning From Syria Public Threat

British officials say that hundreds of British citizens who traveled to Syria to join ISIS have found their way back to British shores.

Scotland Yard officials say that the number of citizens radicalized in Syria by the Islamists increases the possibility of terrorist attacks on British soil.

“There is no doubt of the horrific nature of the offenses being committed overseas,” Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said. “The influence of those who wish to bring similar violence to the streets of the UK has been an increasing threat here.”

Scotland Yard says as many as 700 extremists are believed to have traveled to Syria with the majority joining ISIS.

Terrorism related arrests in the UK have risen 33% in the last year.

“The type and level of the threat is complex and ranges from lone actors intent on carrying out crude and violent attacks to sophisticated networks set on completing ambitious and coordinated plots,” Rowley said.

“ISIL and other terrorist groups are trying to direct attacks in the UK,” Rowley said, referring to ISIS by an another name, “encouraging British citizens to travel to Syria to fight and train, and are seeking, through propaganda, to provoke individuals in the UK to carry out violent attacks here.

Investigators say that changes in technology are leading to blind spots that need to be corrected by legislation to allow police to investigate in new ways.