| For a given value of safe that means only until the nearest IS idiot decides to follow Mohammed's example. |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group, rebels and the forces of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's regime.
According to a report published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday, the whereabouts of the two bishops, Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, remain unknown as the IS holy warriors continuously changed their location "for reasons related to secrecy and to protect them from the surrounding fighting and shelling."
However,
women are made to be loved, not understood...
a source confirmed to the daily that they are "in an area under the control of the IS."
The two bishops were kidnapped at the end of April, reportedly near the rebel-held town of Kafr Dael, near Aleppo in northern Syria.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated Asbat al-Ansar was allegedly the group behind the abduction of the two bishops.
Media reports had said that the group, which was loyal to al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front, became discreetly loyal to ISIL.
No group has officially grabbed credit for their kidnap.
A committee was recently established by Ignatius Aphrem II, patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, to follow up the case.
The daily reported that some agents "contacted the committee claiming to have valuable information on the two bishops and demanded approximately $100,000 in return."
The newspaper said that the committee dealt seriously with the agents, who failed to answer personal questions about the two bishops, indicating that they are lying.
It assumed that the IS considers the bishops a chance to receive funding, however, the group didn't attempt to make any demands so far.
Christians constitute some five percent of Syria's population, a patchwork of religious and ethnic groups.
Rights groups say Christians are especially vulnerable in the chaos that has engulfed Syria ever since the outbreak of a conflict in March 2011.