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