The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham’s dhimmi pact for the Christians of Raqqa pro

[aris2chat]

Back in the middle ages again??

The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham’s dhimmi pact for the Christians of Raqqa province
Posted by Aymenn Al-Tamimi on Wednesday, February 26th, 2014
The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham's dhimmi pact for the Christians of Raqqa province - Syria Comment

Traditionally, a ‘dhimmi’ in Islam is a Jew or Christian who agrees to live under the authority of an Islamic state, agreeing to pay a ‘jizya’ (poll tax) and enduring a number of discriminatory conditions in return for ‘protection’ from the state. The Qur’anic basis for this arrangement is 9:29. In practice of course, the dhimmi pact, far from being a model of historical multiculturalism and tolerance as hailed by Western Islamic apologists such as Karen Armstrong, is actually equivalent to Mafia racketeering, as failure to pay ‘jizya’, whose financial burdens often proved heavy historically, leads to a loss of ‘protection’ by the state.

For the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), which has the backing of broad elements of classical Islamic theology in this regard, such a development comes as no surprise, as the group’s predecessors- Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) and al-Qa’ida in Iraq- similarly imposed jizya on Christians both in the Baghdad area (al-Dura neighborhood) and the north of the country. In Syria, the group has already imposed dhimmi terms in practice on Christians in Raqqa province, such as in Tel Abyad, where supposed violation of the dhimmi pact was the pretext for ISIS’ desecration of the Armenian church in the fall of last year...................

 

[waltky]

Christians Under Siege in Raqqa...

Islamic State Keeps Christians Under Siege in Raqqa
April 05, 2016 - Islamic State militants are cracking down on the few remaining Christians and preventing them from leaving Raqqa, Syria, local activists tell VOA.

“Christians are the most vulnerable group... in the country,” said Hussam Issa, an activist with " Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," a group that monitors IS activities in the city. “They don’t have protection,” said Issa, who fled to Turkey. “They don’t have any armed militias that can defend them.” Christians, who have lived in Raqqa for centuries, made up nearly five percent of the 400,000 prewar population, local activists said. That percentage has dramatically dropped after Raqqa fell to anti-government rebels and was later taken over by IS militants in 2014, becoming their de-facto capital.

IS Persecution

Activists report that 43 Christian families remain in the city. They couldn’t afford to flee the city as other Christians did when the militants took over Raqqa, they said. When IS militants seized Raqqa in January 2014, they gave Christians three options; convert to Islam, leave the city, or face death. Many Christian families left to avoid persecution. “My family and I had to flee Raqqa,” said Jimmy Shahinian, a Syrian Christian activist who is now in Germany.

Displaced families, fleeing violence in Aleppo city and from Islamic State-controlled areas in Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, sit at a school in al-Mabroukeh village in the western countryside of Ras al-Ain, Syria​

Shahinian said his family and other Christians were attached to their homes and lands in Raqqa, but IS treatment became so unbearable that they had to escape and leave everything behind. Last December “my mother was the last one from my immediate family to flee,” he told VOA. IS imposed a set of strict rules on Christians, forcing them to adhere to Muslim dress codes and to pay jizya, an Islamic form of taxation designed for non-Muslims. Activist Issa said when he was living in Raqqa militants kidnapped and murdered a young Christian man for having a cross tattoo on his arm. They were hundreds of incidents of which IS targeted the Christian population in the city, he said.

Fighters from the Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, north Syria, June 30, 2014. Islamic State militants are cracking down on the few remaining Christians and preventing them from leaving Raqqa, Syria​

Christian properties have been confiscated by IS commanders and Christians who remain are prohibited by IS laws to buy properties, he said. Last week, as Christians throughout the Middle East celebrated the ancient Babylonian New Year, Akitu, those in Raqqa were forbidden from holding the Christian ritual. “Prohibiting Christians from practicing their religion is normal for a group like Daesh [IS],” said U.S-based Syrian journalist Hadeel Oueis who often writes about the plight of Christians in Syria. She is a Syriac Christian from the northeastern province of Hasaka.

Genocide

 

[waltky]

Fall of Raqqa Key to Disrupting Terror Plots...

Fall of Raqqa Key to Disrupting Terror Plots: US General
Oct 26, 2016 | The U.S. needs to support an offensive to retake Raqqa to disrupt terror plots against the U.S. and Europe, a U.S. general said.

The U.S. urgently needs to rally feuding local forces for an attack on the Islamic State's Syrian stronghold in Raqqa to disrupt terror plots against the U.S. and Europe, a top U.S. general said Wednesday. "We think there's an imperative to get isolation in place around Raqqa because our intelligence feeds tell us that there is significant external operations attacks planning going on, emanating, centralized in Raqqa," Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said. "I don't want to characterize the intelligence too much," Townsend said, and "we actually aren't sure how pressing it is -- and that's what's worrying us." However, "we know they're up to something and it's an external plot." "There's, I think, a sense of urgency about what we have to do here because we're just not sure what they're up to, and where, and when. But we know that this plot planning is emanating from Raqqa," said Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

To disrupt terror planning in Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the ISIS "caliphate," Townsend said the U.S. is ready to back any local force with the willingness to fight ISIS, despite the likelihood of friction with NATO ally Turkey. In a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Townsend said, "I think it's very important to get isolation in place around Raqqa, to start controlling that environment on a pretty short timeline. So, we're going to take the force that we have" and "we will go to Raqqa soon." The assault would be carried out primarily by the Syrian Democratic Forces, whose most effective fighting unit is the Kurdish YPG, or People's Protection Units. Turkey and local forces it supports have been attacking the YPG, which Turkey views as a terrorist organization.

Fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria​

The mechanics of a Raqqa attack are "still to be determined between our government, our local partners and the Turkish government, and I don't know how that will work out," Townsend said. The Turks have "expressed an interest to be involved in that," Townsend said of the attack on Raqqa. "We'll work through that later. But I think that we'll move soon to isolate Raqqa with the forces that are ready to go soon." The Raqqa operation would be carried out in concert with the ongoing offensive by the Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters against Mosul in Iraq, which has reached the outskirts of the city against heavy resistance by ISIS.

Last week, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that the U.S. was planning a Raqqa offensive while the Mosul operation continues to apply "simultaneous pressure" against ISIS. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Carter told a meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition in Paris about the planned joint offensives against the two ISIS strongholds and later told NBC News that the Raqqa offensive could begin "within weeks."

Fall of Raqqa Key to Disrupting Terror Plots: US General | Military.com

 

[Vastator]

Fall of Raqqa Key to Disrupting Terror Plots...

Fall of Raqqa Key to Disrupting Terror Plots: US General
Oct 26, 2016 | The U.S. needs to support an offensive to retake Raqqa to disrupt terror plots against the U.S. and Europe, a U.S. general said.

The U.S. urgently needs to rally feuding local forces for an attack on the Islamic State's Syrian stronghold in Raqqa to disrupt terror plots against the U.S. and Europe, a top U.S. general said Wednesday. "We think there's an imperative to get isolation in place around Raqqa because our intelligence feeds tell us that there is significant external operations attacks planning going on, emanating, centralized in Raqqa," Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said. "I don't want to characterize the intelligence too much," Townsend said, and "we actually aren't sure how pressing it is -- and that's what's worrying us." However, "we know they're up to something and it's an external plot." "There's, I think, a sense of urgency about what we have to do here because we're just not sure what they're up to, and where, and when. But we know that this plot planning is emanating from Raqqa," said Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

To disrupt terror planning in Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the ISIS "caliphate," Townsend said the U.S. is ready to back any local force with the willingness to fight ISIS, despite the likelihood of friction with NATO ally Turkey. In a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Townsend said, "I think it's very important to get isolation in place around Raqqa, to start controlling that environment on a pretty short timeline. So, we're going to take the force that we have" and "we will go to Raqqa soon." The assault would be carried out primarily by the Syrian Democratic Forces, whose most effective fighting unit is the Kurdish YPG, or People's Protection Units. Turkey and local forces it supports have been attacking the YPG, which Turkey views as a terrorist organization.

Fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria​

The mechanics of a Raqqa attack are "still to be determined between our government, our local partners and the Turkish government, and I don't know how that will work out," Townsend said. The Turks have "expressed an interest to be involved in that," Townsend said of the attack on Raqqa. "We'll work through that later. But I think that we'll move soon to isolate Raqqa with the forces that are ready to go soon." The Raqqa operation would be carried out in concert with the ongoing offensive by the Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters against Mosul in Iraq, which has reached the outskirts of the city against heavy resistance by ISIS.

Last week, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that the U.S. was planning a Raqqa offensive while the Mosul operation continues to apply "simultaneous pressure" against ISIS. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Carter told a meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition in Paris about the planned joint offensives against the two ISIS strongholds and later told NBC News that the Raqqa offensive could begin "within weeks."

Fall of Raqqa Key to Disrupting Terror Plots: US General | Military.com

What does Uncle Ferd have to say about this?

 

[waltky]

Vastator: Is yer first initial 'D'?

 

[Vastator]

Vastator: Is yer first initial 'D'?

Odd question... Why do you ask?