Hundreds of Christians fear IS attack, flee Syrian town

Scores of Christian families have fled a Syrian town amid fears that Islamic State militants are advancing toward it and plan a major offensive, activists said Saturday. Osama Edward, director of the Christian Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said “hundreds of families” have fled the central Christian town of Sadad for the government-held […]

Scores of Christian families have fled a Syrian town amid fears that Islamic State militants are advancing toward it and plan a major offensive, activists said Saturday.
Osama Edward, director of the Christian Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said “hundreds of families” have fled the central Christian town of Sadad for the government-held central city of Homs and the capital, Damascus.
“People are living in fear in the area,” Edward said. “Many Christians around Sadad fear that what happened to ethnic Yazidis in Iraq and other Christians in Islamic State-controlled territory could happen to them – choosing between fleeing, converting to Islam or facing death,” Edward said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed heavy fighting in an area between the central town of Qaryatain and the village of Mheen, which is halfway to Sadad.
About 10 percent of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million people was Christian.