Source: The Christian Post BY MORGAN LEE , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER Out of fear of losing their lives or religion, a tiny group of Christians who still remain in the northern Syrian city of Rakka have agreed to pay off Islamists with a “Tribute Tax” so they won’t be killed. Earlier this year, Rakka’s Christian leaders and representatives from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an Islamist branch of Al-Qaeda, signed a dhimma or protection agreement, under which members of the church must now pay for their own physical protection, reported Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. Under the dhimma, wealthy Christians must pay…
Browsing: Islamists
Source: Zenit News Two months ago, an appeal was made by three regional Bishops who “launched an SOS to avoid catastrophe.” The Bishops stated that “nothing has been done: no one cares for the exhausted population of Hassake, who urgently need humanitarian aid.” Syrian Catholic Bishop Jacques Behnan Hindo and Syrian Orthodox Bishop Matta Roham are intensifying efforts to contact other Christian Syrian leaders and humanitarian organizations, but the response they have received so far has been minimal. “It is impossible to bring aid to Hassake because it is too dangerous and lacks minimal security conditions,” the Bishops stated. Islamist…
Source: RIA Novosti DAMASCUS, May 14 (RIA Novosti) Tags: Bashar al-Assad, Syria, Damascus Christians living in conflict-torn Syria are afraid that their community would fall victim of religious extremism if President Bashar al-Assad regime collapses and Islamists come to power. “I am afraid that we will suffer bad times,” a member of Damascus’s Christian community, who identified himself as Jorge, told RIA Novosti. A full-fledged civil war will break out in Syria if Assad’s enemies and their western supporters continue efforts to topple the president, he continued. “If the regime falls…, Islamists will come to power,” Jorge said, adding that…