Ransomed: The race to free 226 Christian hostages in Syria

SAARLOUIS, Germany (AP) — Deep inside Syria, a bishop worked secretly to save the lives of 226 members of his flock from the Islamic State group — by amassing millions of dollars from his community around the world to buy their freedom.

On Feb. 23, 2015, IS fighters attacked 35 Christian towns simultaneously, sweeping up scores of people.

Paying ransoms is illegal in the United States and most of the West, and the idea of giving money to the Islamic State group is morally fraught, even for those who saw no alternative.

If we give them money we're just feeding into it, and they're going to kill using that money, said Aneki Nissan, who helped raise funds in Canada.

When the villages were attacked, fleeing residents phoned cousins, sons, daughters, friends — Assyrians who had left the region in waves for the West.

Four female captives would remain, and one of the men had to deliver a message to their bishop in the town of Hassakeh about 40 miles away, and return with an answer.

In Germany, Assyrian entrepreneur Charli Kanoun persuaded the government to accept the Tal Goran hostages, and then he began fundraising for the others.

The Islamic State group has made a fortune off the desperation of hostages.

A United Nations resolution from December 2015 called on governments "to prevent kidnapping and hostage-taking committed by terrorist groups and to secure the safe release of hostages without ransom payments or political concessions."

[...] while no government appeared to stop the fundraising, the Assyrians say no country stepped in to free the captives either.