The Christians captured by ISIS forces earlier in the week are now being executed according to this report from ZENIT
Terrorist group Islamic State (IS) has started killing hostages seized after it took Assyrian Christian villages in Syria’s Hassake governorate – with reports that around 15 are dead.
In a message sent to Catholic agencies working in the region, including Aid to the Church in Need, Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana passed on news of the executions from a contact in Hassake city – and said the number still being held exceeds 350.
Archimandrite Youkhana, who supports persecuted Christians in the Middle East,said: “Around 15 young Assyrians are martyred. Many of them were fighting to defend and protect the villages and families.”
From the village of Tel Hormizd 14 people were taken – 12 men and two women – who were fighting to defend their homes.
Reports indicate that of the Tel Hormizd fighters one woman has been beheaded and two men were shot.
Read my article here on the apocalypse of modern martyrdom and my comments at Aleteia here about the twenty one Coptic martyrs.
In the meantime the refugee crisis in Syria is horrific. Christians are running for their lives to Iraq and Turkey. CNA reports here on the mounting problem of people driven from their homes with nothing. To add insult to injury the press in the developed world are relatively silent on the holocaust going on before our eyes.
We had better be prepared for the worst. The murderers of ISIS are like rabid dogs. They won’t stop their killing until someone stops them by force, and to make matters worse, they’re itching for the fight. “Compromise” and “diplomacy” are not in their vocabulary.
Down through history when faced with similar murderous rage Christians have simply hunkered down and prayed for deliverance. Whether it was the early martyrdoms in the church, the horrors of the French revolution, Russian revolution or the Boko Haram, Christians have been led to the slaughter.
May the blood of the martyrs be the seed of the church.
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