Documentary on Assyrian Villages in Syria Now Overrun By Islamic Sta

CrossMap
March 29 2015

Documentary on Assyrian Villages in Syria Now Overrun By Islamic State

By Dan Wooding

SYRIA (ANS – March 28, 2015) — On February 23, 2015, fighters from
Islamic State, also known as ISIS, attacked the 35 Assyrian villages
on the Khabur River in the Hassaka province in northeast Syria.

Nine Assyrian fighters died defending their villages in the initial
attacks and there are reports that Islamic State had executed at least
12 Assyrian fighters who were captured, two of them women.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency
(), between 262 and 373 Assyrians were captured by
the terror group, and 23 have been released but the rest remain in
captivity. Islamic State published a video of one of the captives, a
man, purportedly converting to Islam.

“The majority of the Assyrians were captured from Tel Shamiran, Tel
Hurmiz, Tel Goran and Tel Jazira,” said AINA.

“In 2006 an Assyrian filmmaker from Armenia, Lina Yakubova, visited
the 35 Assyrian villages on the Khabur and made a documentary film
about them.

“Lina Yakubova died in 2011 tragically and unexpectedly at the age of
35 from undiagnosed liver cancer. Her film, titled ‘Ancestral Home’,
was in three parts, and part two was on the Assyrian villages in
Khabur.

The entire Assyrian population of these 35 villages, nearly 3,000, has
fled. The villages are now abandoned or occupied by Islamic State
(ISIS).

“The Assyrians are not expected to return to these villages. Thus, the
Assyrian presence in that area has been eradicated. Lina Yakubova’s
documentary is a valuable record of a now destroyed community.”

To see a video posted as a tribute to Lina that includes the
documentary, please go to

Photo captions: 1) Children from the documentary. 2) An elderly woman
sings an old Assyrian song in the film.

Note: You are welcome to republish this or any of our ANS stories with
full attribution to the ASSIST News Service ().

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress