WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA) MESOP News Roundup SYRIA : Monday, August 10 : Christians flee rural Homs in wake of IS advances

The Islamic State is moving closer to the Damascus-Homs highway following a string of wins bringing them less than 20km away from it, reported pro-opposition All4Syria Monday.“IS is trying to capture the supply depots [in the area],” Mohammad Hassan, an activist and journalist from the eastern Homs countryside, told Syria Direct Monday.

Despite bolstered defensive positions between al-Qaryatayn, a village IS captured last week, 60km to the east of the Damascus-Homs highway, IS forces are pushing their offensive to take the numerous regime-controlled villages in the region, starting east and moving west toward the highway.IS advances have led to a major exodus of civilians, many of them Christians, towards the cities of Homs and Damascus.Sadad, an ancient Christian village that the Islamic State is approaching toward as of Monday, is home to approximately 5,000 Christian families, many of whom are fleeing, a source from the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights was quoted by ARA News as saying on Monday. More than 100 Syriac Christian families were arrested in al-Qaryatayn after IS took control of the village, reported the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights last Thursday, adding that more than 1,400 Christian families had fled southeastern Homs province on the heels of these IS advances.