ISIS Executed 116 Locals Before Christian Town Fell to Syrian Forces

Accused Slain of Being 'Collaborators'

The mostly Christian town of al-Qaryatayn in central Syria’s Homs Province was recaptured over the weekend by Syrian Army forces. They’ve been finding bodies ever since, as ISIS apparently carried out a major purge before it fell.

ISIS tends to be tough on religious minorities, accusing them of being generally in league with the Assad government. Since the Assad government doesn’t openly persecute them, that usually ends up being the case.

When the Syrian Army started pushing ISIS out of Homs, it didn’t take long for ISIS forces to come up with a long list of names of suspected collaborators. At least 116 civilians were killed, with others estimating the figure as high as 128.

ISIS had only taken the town about three weeks ago, so it didn’t take them long to come up with such an extensive list. There are also reports of dozens of other locals “missing’ who may have been taken as hostages.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.