Community denies reports on murder of Armenian in Aleppo

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian community of Lebanon has refuted reports about killing of an Armenian man in Aleppo, Syria.

According to Arabic-language website khabararmani.com, an Armenian man named Minas was killed in Syria for rejecting to be converted to Islam. The man was reportedly murdered by members of al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in one of Aleppo prisons controlled by the group.

A photo spread by activists shows the body of a young man dressed in a jacket with the logotype of Armenian Evangelical Church of Aleppo.

However, the Armenian community said the information is not true to fact. “We are currently trying to find out who could have spread the false news,” they said.

Estimates of deaths in the Syrian civil war, per opposition activist groups, vary between 95,850 and 130,435. 2.3 million refugees who have registered — and tens of thousands more are waiting to register — with the office of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. The actual number is feared to be much higher. Almost half of the refugees are girls and women, while another quarter are boys under 18.

66 Armenians were killed in the armed conflict.