Dozens of people were killed when Islamist rebels besieged the Christian towns of Saddad and Haffar in October. As churches, homes and schools were looted and destroyed, 2,500 families fled, while 3,000 people, including children, were held as a human shield for a week.
Militants from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front stormed Saddad and Haffar on October 21, shouting Allahu Akhbar [‘Allah is great’]. They set up sniper posts and launched a campaign of shelling, killing anyone they found in the streets. Children were crying in fear as the militants took over the towns.
Children among the dead
A Barnabas Fund partner in Syria said: ‘1,500 families were held as hostages and human shield for a week, among them children, old men, young men, and women. Some of them fled… some were killed and some were threatened with execution and with the destruction of their houses.
