ISIS terrorists abduct 700 civilians in eastern Deir Ezzor: Russian MoD

BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:45 A.M.) - The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization attacked a refugee camp in eastern Deir Ezzor and took hundreds of people hostage, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Monday evening.

The terrorist group's assault on the Al-Bahra Refugee Camp took place on Saturday and saw approximately “130 families of about 700 people” abducted and taken away to to the Islamic State's stronghold of Hajjin, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center, Major General Vladimir Savchenko, said in a statement.

“The kidnapped civilians… can be used by terrorists as a ‘human shield’” to protect them from the possible advance of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), he continued.

The town of Hajjin, where the people were taken, is located in the 20-kilometer area along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and currently occupied by the Islamic State terrorists. IS has managed to maintain control of such large territory in Deir ez-Zor as a result of “inaction of the US-backed armed units,” Savchenko emphasized.

“The US-led coalition and the Pentagon-controlled Kurdish forces continue to imitate the fight against Islamic State in the south of Deir ez-Zor province,” without making actual steps to eradicate the terrorists, he said.