Dozens of women and children are kidnapped by ISIS militia in Syria

In attacks on villages from South-Syrian province of Al-Suwaida Last week, 36 women and children were abducted. At least 20 women and 16 children of the Druze religious minority have been kidnapped, the local news site Soueida24 and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Monday.

In a series of attacks on Wednesday morning, jihadists in the provincial capital had Al-Suwaida and surrounding areas. Villages killed more than 250 people. The attacks by the Sunni extremist group were directed against the forces of leader Bashar al-Assad and militiamen, but about 140 civilians were also killed.

Most of the victims were Druze, the majority of the population of Al-Suwaida. Jihadists are considered "infidels". These are the bloodiest attacks in the province since the beginning of the civil war in 2011.

As most Druze adopted an attitude of neutrality in the conflict, their settlements have so far been spared.

Claims on the Government

Observatory was removed after the attacks Wednesday, a total of 36 civilians, but four women managed to escape, while one was shot and another is probably dead on the run from exhaustion. 30 women and children are still held hostage.

Soueida24 reports that all the victims came from the village of Al-Shabke, east of the province of Suweida, at the edge of the great desert of Badija. The journalist Soueida24, Nur Radwan, told AFP that the IS militia had sent photos and videos of the victims of the abduction to relatives.

She also called on the government to release the prisoners and stop the offensive against their comrades fighters southern province of Daraa. Initially, the militia of EI did not publish the kidnappings.

Victims belong to peasant families

Radwan said that the victims came from two extended families and were taken to the Badiya Desert. The inhabitants of Al-Shabke were farmers who only had shotguns to defend themselves. So there was little resistance there, said the reporter. According to the Observatory, 17 men from the region were also missing

Informed circles said the Druze religious had negotiated with the jihadists for the release of the hostages.

The ISI militia has repeatedly abducted members of religious minorities in Syria in recent years. In 2015 and 2016, hundreds of Christians from villages in the north-east and center of the country were deported, but after essentially liberated negotiations

Advanced government troops

With Wednesday's attacks, the militia EI probably wanted pressure from his comrades the neighboring province of Daraa, bombed by the Syrian army since July 19. Also Monday, government troops continued to use Russian air support against the last villages under the control of the ISI militia, according to the Sana press agency

The militia of the EI has lost all the cities under control in Syria. Daraa and the Badija desert as well as in a small area in the east of the country.

In May, jihadists were forced to retreat into the desert as part of an agreement with the government of Jarmuk district in Damascus. Some of these fighters reportedly participated in the attacks in Al-Suwaida.