BEIRUT/WASHINGTON: ISIS militants in Syria have seized at least 90 Assyrians in the jihadis’ first mass kidnapping of Christians in the war-torn country, a monitor said Tuesday.

The abductions appeared to be in retaliation for a major Kurdish-led offensive aimed at recapturing nearby villages, and which has killed 132 jihadis in four days, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based monitor said ISIS kidnapped the Assyrians Monday after seizing two villages, Tal Shamiram and Tal Hermez, in Hassakeh province from the control of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

The group had no immediate details on those kidnapped, including whether women and children were among them, or where they were being held.

“The jihadis attacked the two villages in retaliation against the Kurds, who four days ago launched a bid backed by the U.S.-led coalition to reclaim villages around Tal Hamis, also in Hassakeh province,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman.

“The fighting around Tal Hamis has killed at least 132 jihadis in four days, and four YPG fighters on Tuesday alone,” he added.

“A fifth man, a Westerner who had traveled into Syria to fight alongside the YPG, was also killed.”

The development came as U.S. President Barack Obama praised Qatar as a “strong partner” in the fight against ISIS, as he hosted Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the Oval Office.

“Qatar is a strong partner in our coalition to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL,” Obama said, using another name for the group.

The White House played down allegations that Qatar has itself has abetted hard-line Islamist groups and is a source of terror financing.

“There are areas where we disagree with the Qataris” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, adding there were more areas where interests “overlap.”

There were just 30,000 Assyrians in Syria before the country’s conflict erupted in March 2011, with most of them living in Hassakeh province.

The Syriac Military Council, whose militia is also fighting ISIS in Hassakeh, announced that three of its fighters were killed in the clashes with the jihadis and that 13 others were missing. After ISIS attacked the two villages as well as the nearby town of Tal Tamr, which remains under Kurdish control, the jihadis set fire to a church there and then installed fighters in the remains of the building, an activist network reported.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, which has backed Kurdish forces battling the group, then bombed the building Monday, destroying it and killing militants inside, said the Syrian Revolution General Commission. The militants struck before dawn, staging house-to-house raids in a cluster of villages nestled along the Khabur River, as thousands of residents fled to safer areas.

Relatives said mobile phone service was cut off and land lines also were not going through, adding to the fear and uncertainty about their loved ones. Heavy fighting was reported in the area.

ISIS has a history of killing captives, including foreign journalists, Syrian soldiers and Kurdish militiamen. Most recently, militants in Libya affiliated with the group released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians. It has also released hostages, both Syrian and non-Syrian, in certain cases, although details surrounding the releases have remained murky.

Nuri Kino, the head of a group called A Demand For Action, said between 70 and 100 Assyrians were taken captive. About 3,000 people fled and have sought refuge in the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli, he said, adding that his activist group based its information on conversations with villagers who fled the attack and their relatives.

“Have they been slaughtered? Are they still alive? We’re searching for any news,” said an Assyrian Christian woman from Tal Shamiram who now lives in Beirut. The woman said she has been trying to find out what has become of her parents, her brother and his wife and their children, but couldn’t reach anyone in the village. “I feel so helpless, I cannot do anything for them but pray,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of endangering relatives believed to be held by the militants.

U.S. Central Command said the coalition carried out 10 airstrikes near Hassakeh Monday, striking nine ISIS tactical units and destroying two vehicles.

The Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria said on its Facebook page that the militants had moved the captives to the village of Umm al-Masamir on Mount Abdel-Aziz, some 25 kilometers south of Tal Shamiram. That raised fears, the network said, that ISIS could use them as human shields against Kurdish militiamen.