Kurdish forces have driven the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant terrorist group from more than a dozen Assyrian Christian villages that the terrorists had captured in northeastern Syria

Kurdish forces have driven the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant terrorist group from more than a dozen Assyrian Christian villages that the terrorists had captured in northeastern Syria, a monitor said Wednesday.
  
"Following a 10-day offensive, Kurdish fighters took control early this week of 14 Assyrian villages that ISIL had controlled since February," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
  
Thousands of Christians fled an assault by the terrorists in the northeastern province of Hasakeh in February after a spate of kidnappings by ISIL, which is still holding 210 Assyrians hostage.
  
Assyrians number about 30,000 among Syria's 1.2 million Christians and mostly live in 35 villages in Hasakeh, all of which are now held by Kurdish or regime forces.