ICC Note: Some of the Assyrian Christians who’ve escaped the horrors in Syria have begun to tell their story. They were forced to witness firsthand the atrocities that ISIS carried out, one of the refugees said. They were banned from displaying the cross, women were forced to cover. Even the children were forced to watch the beheadings.

05/20/2015 Syria (Christian Post) Assyrian Christians fleeing ISIS from Syria who’ve made it to Beirut, Lebanon, have said that their children were forced to watch beheadings and other atrocities carried out by the Islamic militants. Over 220 Assyrians remain in captivity, with ISIS demanding millions in ransoms, but there’s no one who has the ability to pay.

“Our children saw many beheadings,” said Jack Zayya, an Assyrian Christian refugee, according to World Crunch. “We were obligated to watch public executions. What kind of world is that for kids to grow up in? They were always scared.”

Zayya said that ISIS has destroyed his livelihood back at his hometown of Al-Hasakah in Syria, and has told Christians they must pay taxes to the jihadists or be killed.

“Kidnappings were about getting ransom from rich families or individuals at first,” he continued. “With Daesh [ISIS], though, there is no negotiating. We had to pay the jizya tax or die.”

When an ISIS sheik was appointed as emir of the Al-Hasakah area, the militants moved to remove and destroy church crosses. They banned Christians from wearing crucifixes, from driving or riding in cars, and ordered women to wear burkas.

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