By Theodore Shoebat
ISIS invaded numerous Christian Assyrian villages that lie on the Khabour River, kidnapping hundreds of Christians and placing the areas under Sharia law. The Christian militants, who are part of a group called Syriac Military council, alongside Kurds and other Muslims, formed a counter attack on ISIS and drove them all out of the villages, retaking them. The church bells, after being liberated, were ringing in celebration. According to the report:
Subsequent to fierce battles with the Islamic State group (IS/ISIL), the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) regained control of new villages at the banks of Khabur River near the town of Tel Temir in Hasakah province, northeastern Syria, media sources reported on Thursday.
A pro-YPG media source told ARA News that the YPG, supported by the Syriac Military Council and Haras al-Khabur Force, took control of the Assyrian villages of Tel Shamiram, Tel Nasri and Ghibish in the vicinity of Tel Temir town, after fierce clashes with IS terrorists.
The source pointed out that the YPG units, backed by the Syriac forces, were also able to liberate the village of Tel Nasri at 4:00 pm on Thursday. Subsequently, IS militants were driven out of the nearby villages of Tel Shamiram and Ghibish.
The YPG’s advance in Tel Temir comes within the framework of its military campaign against IS radicals to regain control of the entire countryside of Hasakah province in northeastern Syria.
“During the military campaign, the YPG fighters were able to retake many villages and farms in the countryside of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) city and the villages surrounding the town of Tel Temir, in addition to the strategic mountain of Abdulaziz near Hasakah,” the source told ARA News.
The IS group was subject to heavy losses during the recent battles in Hasakah province, according to Kurdish military sources.
Noteworthy, IS militants have launched a major offensive on the villages in the vicinity of Tel Temir town last February, during which they took control of a number of villages, causing a mass displacement among civilians, beside taking hundreds of Assyrians as hostages.