ISIS executes 37 civilians in Syria
Inter2

Rami Abdel Rahman

Beirut – The Islamic State jihadist group yesterday executed at least 37 civilians, including two children, in a raid on a regime-held village in Hama province of central Syria, a monitor said.ISIS “executed at least 37 people, including women and children, by burning, beheading, and firing on them” in the village of Mabujeh, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian state television reported that 44 people were killed and 21 injured in the raid. Mabujeh, east of the provincial capital Hama, has a population of Sunni Muslims as well as Alawites and Ismailis, minority sects that are offshoots of Shi’ite Islam.

ISIS has regularly targeted minority sects in Syria, especially Shi’ite Muslims it accuses of apostasy, as well as Sunnis who it alleges have violated its interpretation of Islam.

Mabujeh lies near a vital road that serves as the regime’s only link between the central province of Homs and the northern province of Aleppo.

ISIS militants have repeatedly tried to sever the route.

In late March, the extremist group killed 83 regime soldiers in the region in a bid to gain control over the road.

In north-west Syria, the Observatory said yesterday, at least 32 people were killed in government air strikes on the city of Idlib in the past 48 hours.

Regime forces lost control of the city on Saturday to a coalition of Islamist forces led by al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

In Geneva, the UN’s human rights office said it was worried about the situation in the city.

“We’re deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Idlib” after the rebel takeover, spokesperson Cecile Pouilly said at a briefing.
Syria’s conflict began with peaceful demonstrations in 2011 but has since spiralled into a bloody civil war that has left more than 215,000 people dead. – AFP

 

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