GETTY ISIS militants forced a shopkeeper to pop a balloon because it looked like a pair of breasts

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The red, heart-shaped balloon was hanging in the man’s shop window in Raqqa. But when twisted ISIS militants stormed the Syrian city in 2014, sick fighters charged into the shop, declaring the man had sinned, according to a Syrian Christian from the city. The Christian, known only as John, continued living in Raqqa after the abhorrent jihadi group had taken the city.

IG ISIS stormed Raqqa in 2014

John was allowed to remain after agreeing to pay a Christian tax imposed by ISIS, known as jizya. He said: “I remember a funny incident. A shopkeeper had a red balloon in the shape of a heart in his window. “IS [ISIS] came in, screaming that this was a sin.

GETTY FILE PICTURE They claimed the balloon looked like a pair of breastst

“The shopkeeper said it was just a balloon. The IS [ISIS] man insisted that this was sin because the shape could also be seen as a woman’s breasts. “The shopkeeper had to pop the balloon.” John and his family lived under the savage fanatic cult’s rule for 18 months, before leaving Raqqa.

GETTY John lived in Raqqa for 18 months under ISIS law

He added: “One day an IS [ISIS] man heard my name mentioned and immediately understood that I was a Christian. “I saw the expression on his face change: ‘Are you an unbeliever?’ “I replied: ‘Don’t you know this verse from the Koran that anyone who believes in God, in angels, in the books and in his prophets, in good and bad and in eternal life, is a believer?’

ISIS fighters Fri, March 25, 2016 Iraq and Syrian jihadists, including the Paris and Brussels attacks suspects. Play slideshow PH 1 of 47 Belgian national Salah Abdeslam who masterminded the Paris attacks

“He was shocked that I knew this verse from the Koran and he walked away. “Seeing all these atrocities, they don’t seem like people, they seem like monsters to me, especially after what they did to those soldiers.