Syrian rebels impose Islamic law on town’s Christians

Aleppo, Syria, 18 December 2013: Syrian rebels have taken over a small village in northwestern Syria and imposed Islamic law on its Christian residents, a Latin-rite bishop has told the Fides news agency.

“In Kanayé, Salafi militants and the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra have imposed [that] the pastor not ring bells,” said Bishop Giuseppe Nazzaro, the retired vicar apostolic of Aleppo. “Women must not go out on the street bare-headed, but must be veiled. And if they do not obey these orders, the threat is massacre.”

"We are facing what they have already done in the nearby village of Ghassanieh for over a year. In Ghassanieh they warned the residents to leave the village immediately, otherwise they would have killed them, and they got the desired result: to occupy the village with what Christians possessed. In Kanayé, they have not imposed on the population to leave but to live according to the Islamic law". According to the vicar emeritus, "this could be the first step. Tomorrow they will force them to convert to Islam", Nazzaro added.
Source: CWN