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Syrian Al-Qaida Branch Torches Church

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  • Syrian Al-Qaida Branch Torches Church

    SYRIAN AL-QAIDA BRANCH TORCHES CHURCH

    Assyrian International News Agency
    Oct 30 2013

    Posted GMT 10-30-2013 16:59:41

    BEIRUT -- Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
    set fire to an Armenian church in Tal Abyad on Syria's northern
    border with Turkey before dawn on Tuesday, activists and a human
    rights watchdog said.

    "ISIS set fire to the Armenian church in the city of Tal Abyad. They
    also forcibly took down the cross from the church building," the Syrian
    Observatory for Human Rights said, strongly condemning the attack.

    The Britain-based watchdog, which has tracked rights violations
    throughout the conflict, pointed out that the Syria al-Qaida branch
    previously "desecrated both the Armenian and the Roman Catholic
    churches in Raqqa city, forcibly taking down the crosses, sculptures
    and artwork and burning them."

    Video footage posted to YouTube by local media activists showed the
    inner walls of the church foyer charred black and smoke emanating
    from inside. The structure was still intact.

    The Twitter account Rabia Jihad (Jihadi Spring), known as a reliable
    source for ISIS news, said that ISIS had broken the cross of Tal Abyad
    church and seized the building after its congregants had "failed to
    adhere to their compact of dhimma."

    In Islam, dhimma are the terms that can be imposed on non-Muslim
    religious communities. These may include payment of jizya, a tax
    collected in return for security.

    Jimmy Shahinian, an opposition activist from Raqqa city, said that the
    Tal Abyad Armenian community had dwindled to only a few impoverished
    families. The church complex itself was being used to house refugees
    at the time of the attack.

    "The Armenian school, which is attached to the church, was being used
    as a shelter for three displaced Muslim families. Now they have no
    place to live," Shahinian said.

    While the Christian communities of Tal Abyad and Raqqa city are tiny,
    activists and analysts said that does not preclude extremist groups
    from asserting their dominance and sending a message to the broader
    society.

    "This is a classic ISIS message of Islamic supremacy," said analyst
    Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi.

    "In Iraq, the [Islamic State] would demand the jizya tax on
    Christians. They would extort money from most businesses and any
    churches in the town. If a bishop refused for his congregation to pay,
    he's kidnapped and killed.

    "When you have a marginal Christian presence, almost unseen, then
    you move on to asserting Islamic supremacy by desecrating a church,
    or raising your flag," he said.

    Reckless Sectarianism Goes Unchecked

    The brash, sectarian attacks on Christians have set ISIS apart from
    other rebel factions. Even Jabhat al-Nusra, the fellow al-Qaida
    affiliate from which ISIS split, has distanced itself from attacks
    on Christians.

    According to Tamimi, ISIS has lost any reservations about sectarian
    attacks since the local Syrian leader of al-Nusra broke ties with
    them in July.

    "When Abu Saad al-Hadrami declared allegiance to ISIS ... his status
    translated into a degree of restraint on the part of ISIS. Thus the
    churches were still protected in Raqqa while he was in command. After
    he defected, ISIS behavior became increasingly harsh, leading to more
    arrests of local rivals culminating in the clashes with Ahfad al-Rasoul
    in August and the desecration of two churches in Raqqa in September.

    "Both groups are quite happy to target Alawites, but you don't see
    al-Nusra rhetoric targeting Christians," said Tamimi. "But knowing the
    roots of ISIS and how many times they bombed churches in Iraq, it is no
    surprise they regard Christian symbols as something to be destroyed."

    When Jabhat al-Nusra entered the ancient Christian town of Maloula
    in September, a directive from its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani,
    was circulated, outlining a code of conduct to abide by when dealing
    with Christians in rebel-held territories.

    "No crosses shall be broken and there shall be no violation of
    Christian holy sites. No Christians shall be abused, unless they
    are fighters, who shall be treated as enemy combatants," read the
    statement.

    Ahrar al-Sham, a Salafist fighting force that controls the gates to
    the town, distributed food baskets to local Armenians and Christians
    in August. Activists said the charity was intended to "prove to the
    world that this revolution is for all Syrians."

    In the wake of the church attack, the Hamza Battalion--the sole
    Free Syrian Army force in Tal Abyad--quickly issued this statement
    following reports that the arsonists had used one of their vehicles:

    "Christians are our brothers and have the same rights as other citizens
    ... We ask anyone with information on this incident to inform us,
    and we, God willing, will bring them to justice," it said.

    But while the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham movement holds sway in Tal Abyad,
    bolstered by alliances with Jabhat al-Nusra and the Hamza Battalion,
    none are interested in picking a fight with ISIS, despite differences
    in ideology.

    Tamimi noted that even the insignia of the Hamza Battalion, which is
    affiliated with the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, features
    both the three-starred flag of the revolution and the black jihadist
    flag. "It's like playing it both ways," he said.

    "Part of the reason tensions are not big between these local Tal Abyad
    battalions and ISIS is because of the common enemy of the YPG. The
    Kurdish militias were expelled in August and confined to the rural
    peripheries, but they're still trying to get rid of them," he said.

    Tamimi said that while al-Nusra had made veiled references to the
    abuse of its banner when it returned to ISIS-dominated Raqqa city
    in September, there was no explicit criticism of its fellow al-Qaida
    affiliate.

    Shahinian says an atmosphere of fear reigns in ISIS strongholds,
    where the group has employed violence, kidnappings and intimidation
    to sideline opposition activists, journalists and even other rebel
    factions.

    "No one likes ISIS, not the civilians, or the activists, or the FSA, or
    even Jabhat [al-Nusra], but no one wants a problem with them either,"
    the activist said.

    By Alison Tahmizian Meuse http://beta.syriadeeply.org

    http://www.aina.org/news/20131030115941.htm

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