David said his brother-in-law, who emigrated to the United States about four years ago with his wife and daughters, has been abducted by ISIS in Syria along with several other members of the family he had hoped to bring to the United States to get them out of harm’s way. He arrived in Syria to help his family about two years ago, according to CNN affiliate KCRA.
“We anticipate the unthinkable. It’s absolutely devastating,” David told CNN. “It’s happening; another Holocaust before our very eyes. There is nothing that we can do. But the world must do something. Please. Please, the world powers must do something for all of these people.”
They are devout Christians, Assyrians, who like many in their village, farmed and lived simple but hard lives off the land.
They were taken hostage early Tuesday morning from their villages in northeastern Syria.
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“For the past decade we have been witnessing a rapid decline of Syria and Iraq’s Christian communities,” Eshoo writes. “The situation for religious minorities in Syria and Iraq remains desperate and soon will be hopeless. We must act now.”
She has proposed more safe havens inside Iraq and Syria for religious minorities, specifically in the Nineveh Plains, as well as adequate humanitarian assistance in refugee camps.
CNN’s Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
