Islamic State destroys historic Syrian monastery, monitor says

Islamic State forces have destroyed an historic monastery in central Syria, where the extremist militia has consolidated its presence in recent weeks, a monitoring group said on Friday.

The militants used bulldozers to destroy the fifth-century Mar Elian monastery in the strategic town of al-Qaryatain in Homs province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Local activists said the site was destroyed on Thursday.

Islamic State forces seized al-Qaryatain from Syrian government troops earlier this month. Al-Qaryatain is located along a road linking the Islamic State-held ancient city of Palmyra with areas controlled by the al-Qaida splinter group in the eastern countryside of the region of Qalamoun, which lies on the edge of the capital, Damascus.

The observatory also said that Islamic State had moved dozens of Christians, captured in al-Qaryatain, to the group's stronghold in the north-eastern Syrian province of al-Raqqa. The radical group will ask the Christian captives either to convert to Islam or pay a non-Muslim tax, the watchdog said.

Islamic State is notorious for mass abuses against minority communities in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, where it rules vast amounts of territory.    (dpa)

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