A/HRC/30/48 120. Following YPG’s advice that an attack by ISIS was imminent, most residents moved to YPG-controlled territory in February. A small number of lightly armed Assyrian men remained behind to protect their property. In February, ISIS began its attack on approximately 20 Assyrian villages. While advancing, ISIS indiscriminately shelled the villages and, on entering, shot and killed some members of local defence forces. Others were injured while fleeing. 121. Approximately 12 men were abducted from Tel Hermes, while two men and an elderly woman were taken from Qabr Shamie. ISIS currently holds more than 200 Assyrians hostage, and has requested ransoms, though some hostages were released without payment. Once ISIS captured the villages, its fighters proceeded to destroy churches and to burn and loot houses. The destruction of more than 10 churches has been documented thus far. 122. While the ISIS attack on the Assyrian Christian villages formed part of the group’s broader attacks on the YPG throughout the reporting period, the group also targeted villagers on the basis of their religion. This discriminatory intent was demonstrated by the terrorist group’s specific attacks on Christian symbols and the destruction of churches once ISIS was in control of the villages. While the YPG regained control of some villages, the Assyrian population remains reticent to return. 123. ISIS has continued to attack Syrian Kurdish communities. The most lethal attack took place between 25 and 27 June 2015 in Kobane. Fewer than 100 ISIS fighters entered Kobane at around 4 a.m. on 25 June. All wore YPG or FSA uniforms, enabling them to infiltrate the town easily and, initially, to move inconspicuously around. Disguised ISIS fighters went house-to-house, summarily executing civilians. Their snipers deployed in buildings, including the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital, shooting and killing civilians who came into the streets. Approximately 250 civilians were killed and hundreds more were wounded. Most died in their homes or in the immediate vicinity of their houses. Scores of civilians – many of them women and children – were captured and held in buildings containing ISIS’s sniper positions as human shields. Those taken as human shields either escaped or were rescued by the YPG following clashes. 124. In mid-June, immediately prior to the attack on Kobane, ISIS forced remaining Kurds to leave Raqqah and Tabqa cities (Raqqah), under threat of death. 125. In recent months, ISIS has conducted multiple car and suicide bombings in YPGcontrolled areas of Hasakah. In March, during the festival of Nowruz, a car bomb exploded in Hasakah city, killing approximately 50 people and wounding over 150. Other suicide car bombings, in June and July in Hasakah and Qamishli cities, respectively, were directed at military targets, namely YPG checkpoints. As the number of civilian casualties could not be confirmed, it has not been possible to assess the proportionality of these attacks. 126. ISIS’s targeting of the Syrian Arab Republic’s Kurds appears based on actual or perceived Kurdish civilian support of the YPG, which has recently retaken substantial amounts of ISIS-controlled territory in Al-Hasakah, Raqqah, and Aleppo governorates. During their indoctrination of kidnapped Kurdish schoolboys, held between May and September 2014, ISIS railed against the Kurdish lack of adherence to ISIS’ extremist ideology. Despite the YPG’s success in pushing them back from the city and region, the recent attack by ISIS in Kobane seems intended to terrorize civilians and to prevent the resumption of normal life in these areas. 127. In ISIS-controlled areas of Dayr Az-Zawr, the group has destroyed Shia Islamic shrines and graves. While the Shia Muslim population fled long before ISIS took control, ISIS has sought to destroy the history of this religious community in this governorate. 16