Five killed in IS attack in Syria

Beirut: At least five people, two of them children, were killed when fighters of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group attacked a village in the central Syrian province of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.  All the deceased belonged to the Alawite religious sect, shared by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and among them were a father and son, and a young girl, Efe news agency reported citing SOHR. A woman also went missing following a related attack against the people of al-Qanafz village, located east of the city of al-Salamiya, where Alawite communities live alongside Sunnis.  The IS militants declared in late June of 2014 the establishment of an Islamic “caliphate” in areas under its control in both Iraq and Syria.