Armenians and other Christians in Syria’s Raqqa banned to leave the city by extremists
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YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The Islamic State is now preventing the last remaining Christians from leaving Raqqa, Syria, “Armenpress” reports “Raqqa Is Being Silently Slaughtered” activist group informs.
According to the group established by a group of journalists who later turned activists, ISIS has issued a new decree preventing both Christians and Armenians in Raqqa from leaving.
There are approximately 25 Christian families left in Raqqa today, according to RIBSS.
Raqqa, now the de-facto Syrian headquarters of the “Islamic State” terrorist organization, fell into the terrorist control in March 2013 in a battle between insurgents led by the Islamist jihadi group Al Nusra and Bashar Al Assad’s forces. Raqqa then became the first provincial capital under rebel control in the war.
“The suffering of Christians began with ISIS control of Raqqa,” RIBSS said on its website about the treatment of Christians under the jihadi militant group.
“ISIS looks at Christians as infidels loyal to the West more than their loyalty to their homeland which they live.”
In the 1920s, Christians constituted up to 30 percent of Syria’s population and had lived there for 2000 years. More recently, 10 percent of Syria’s 22 million population were Christians.
Two weeks ago, Secretary of State John Kerry formally declared a “genocide” designation regarding the treatment of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.
Since the eruption of the Syrian war, thousands of Christians and other minorities have been forced out from their homes both by Islamist rebels fighting Bashar Al Assad’s regime and Islamic State militants.
Christians have been given three options in areas controlled by ISIS —to convert to Islam, to pay a minority tax orjizyaor to face death.
The Foreign Desk exclusively reported on the kidnapping of hundreds of Christians in the Syrian province of Hassakeh in February 2015.
In 2014, ISIS promulgated a list of seven restrictions that Christians in Raqqa had to follow in order to live under Caliphate rule.
In it, Christians were contractually obliged to pay thejizya,or minority tax, which in Islamic Sharia law is the amount of money paid bynon-Muslims or “dhimmis” in exchange for protection.
Thejizyawas last enforced under the Ottoman Empire and since, only brought back by the Islamic State.
In addition, Christians living under ISIS arenot permitted to build any new churches, religious facilities, nor arethey allowed to repair existing ones, cannotpublicly show any crosses, pray or recite the Bible in public, areprohibited from any acts of aggression against the Islamic State, are forbidden from stopping the conversion of any Christian to the religion of Islam and cannotsell pork products or alcohol to any Muslims nor consume these products, forbidden in Islam, in public.