Suffering Defeats,ISIL Takes Assyrian Christians Hostage

When Kurdish forces pushed ISIL out of some 30 villages in Northeast Syria recently,sweeping in from their retaking of Kobani,the Islamist jihadists responded by entering a lightly guarded village in al-Hasakeh Province at 4 am local time,invaded homes and dragged their Assyrian Christian hostages,including women,children and the elderly,away to an uncertain fate.According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,about 90 of the indigenous Assyrian Christians were seized,mostly from the village of Tal Shamirzm 85 km southwest of the provincial capital Qamishli.The Assyrians predate the arrival of Islam in the region,tracing their heritage back to the ancient Mesopotamians.Their traditional language is the Syriac dialect of Aramaic,a language spoken by Jesus Christ.The Assyrian Network for Human Rights believes they were taken to the village of Umm al-Masamir on Mt.Abdulaziz,around 25 km south of their home village.
At the same time,about 700 Assyrian Christian families,or 3,000 people,fled to al-Hasakeh city and took refuge in a church.Later reports say another 150 families found refuge in Qamishli,and that several of the Assyrian Christians were moved to the ISIL headquarters of Raqqa,Syria.
This comes after last week's massacre of 21 Coptic Orthodox Christian men from Egypt by ISIL in Libya.*
It was reported by the Iranian FARS news agency on Monday 22 February that Iraqi troops had killed more than seven ISIL Takfiri group militants in fighting south of Tikrit,Salahuddin Province.Then FARS reported on 23 February that Iraqi warplanes and artillery pounded the ISIL Takfiri group extremists in Tikrit itself,killing dozens and destroying two houses they were using as headquarters.
The Iraqi Air Force has several Russian ground attack aircraft,such as the Su-25,as well as a number of helicopter gunships.*
Ideal for surveillance and reconnaissance of ISIL,as well as the Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan,are the US Air Force U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft stationed at an undisclosed Southwest Asia base.According to industry sources,however,it is al-Dhafra Air Base,UAE.Gathering intelligence is one of the main roles the US performs for the anti-ISIL coalition it leads in Operation Inherent Resolve.