The rounding up of Christians by ISIS in northern Syria is hitting close to home for men at an Ontario auto-body shop.
Belos Belou of Mississauga says his wife’s first cousin and her five children were among the more than 200 people kidnapped by the militant group earlier this week.
“I feel like any second they will kill them all,” he tells CTV News. “It's almost medieval,” he adds. “You'd think it was a thousand years ago.”
Meanwhile, co-worker Ramsin Yonadam says his great uncle was kidnapped in the summer and detained for 40 days. He was released only after a ransom of $200,000 was paid, says Yonadam.
The kidnappings -- along with the beheading of 21 Christians from Egypt 10 days ago -- give new urgency to those trying to flee Syria as refugees.
Like many Syrian-Canadians, Yonadam and Belou want Canada to fast-track immigration for those suffering at the hands of ISIS.
The Conservative government had said they would resettle 1,300 Syrians by the end of 2014, but as of January that commitment had not been entirely met. At the same time, they announced plans to resettle 10,000 more Syrians over the next three years.
The now four-year-long civil war in Syria, combined with the rise of ISIS in parts of Iraq and Syria, has forced more than 3.8 million Syrians to flee to neighbouring countries, while more than 7.6 million are displaced inside the country, according the UNHCR.
The fate of the Christians taken in the last few days is not entirely unclear. Osama Edward, director of the Stockholm-based Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said they may be used as “human shields to protect from coalition airstrikes.”
Western and Middle Eastern countries, including Canada, have been bombing in Iraq in an effort to defeat ISIS.
Last week, Canadian Forces Capt. Paul Forget said the country’s CF-18s have flown 328 missions and that coalition air attacks, combined with Iraqi ground efforts, continue to “degrade” ISIS.
However, ISIS continues to recruit more fighters, including young people from western countries like Canada.
In fact, CTV News learned Thursday that six young people from Montreal, four of them college students, recently left the country to join Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported that it’s not clear exactly when they left Canada, but they were likely headed to Syria.
Belou and Yonadam are also considering going to Syria.
Waiting for news about their kidnapped relatives is so hard to bear, they may go join the fight.
With a report from Peter Akman, and files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
