Christians in Syria say they’re facing total genocide….
Only a handful of mostly sick or elderly Christians remain in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, and Syrian Christians fear the forces that have brought that city’s population of Gospel followers to the brink of extinction could do the same for the entire nation.
An estimated dozen Christian families are still in the northern city, forced under threat of execution to convert, pay an “infidel” tax or go into hiding. Forbidden from leaving, they also face death from attacks directed at ISIS by Damascus, Russia and the U.S.-led Western coalition.
Ayman Abdel Nour, executive director of Syrian Christians for Peace said The people of Raqqa are being forced to live like it was 1,400 years ago.
The plight of Christians in Raqqa is the eye of a storm that threatens to engulf all of the embattled nation whose ties to Christianity are as old as the faith itself. Terror, bombings and systematic persecution designated as genocide by the U.S. has left the close-knit community of Syrian Christians fearing for their future.
Islamic terrorists are destroying churches, killing and kidnapping Christians, stealing homes and businesses.”
Even for many with the means and ability to flee, leaving is not an option when it means abandoning not just their homes, but also their faith.
Syria, along with its neighbor Iraq, is deemed the cradle of human civilization and the region where Christianity began 2,000 years ago.