LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Islamic State's destructive campaign has crushed a family now living in Australia.

The Elia family fled the brutal Syrian civil war when it was just beginning. Now they've had to confront what IS has done to their home and all the memories it holds.

Middle East correspondent Matt Brown spent time with the mayor of their home village, Tal Hames, who says the nightmare began when the extremists set about destroying all signs of Christian faith.

MATT BROWN, REPORTER: The fertile fields of northern Syria have witnessed an epic battle of tyranny and faith.

OSHANA ELIA, VILLAGE MAYOR (voiceover): They delivered attack on non-Muslims every day and ordered us to remove our crosses. They even spat on an old woman who was over 70 years old because she wasn't covering her face.

MATT BROWN: While IS has now been forced out, it's still holding five locals hostage.

OSHANA ELIA (voiceover): How would you feel? Our families and honour were in the hands of IS; our churches ransacked and homes burned. How would anyone feel?

(Oshana Elia walks away from the camera, fighting tears)

(Footage of Oshana Elia speaking on mobile satellite phone)

OSHANA ELIA: Alo, alo. Samira?

MATT BROWN: As it turns out, the sorrow at what happened here is also being felt a world away by Oshana's cousin, who fled in 2012 and found refuge in Melbourne.

(Footage of the Elia family at dinner in their Melbourne house)

The Elia family fled before IS was a major force to be reckoned with, but gangs from neighbouring villages had already started kidnapping local businessmen for ransom.

SHLIMON ELIA (voiceover): People with masks on their faces came to my shop five or six times. Once, a car pulled up and they opened the door. But I had a friend who had a gun on him and they thought he might be too much trouble.

SAMIRA ELIA (voiceover): That's what it was: fear of abduction. They wanted to abduct my husband and my kids, then ask for ransom.

MATT BROWN: While they've set about rebuilding their lives, the Elia family can't escape the horror.

SHLIMON ELIA (voiceover): Yes, there are still hostages. There's my female cousin and my male cousin from the village. They are still hostages.

MATT BROWN: Back in the Elias' home, the extremists have scrawled anti-Christian graffiti.

(Oshana Elia points to graffito on wall)

OSHANA ELIA (voiceover): Here, the writing says, "Conquerors of the crusaders."

MATT BROWN: The house has been scarred by battle. Every room has been looted and burned out.

For the Elia family, these are painful scenes. The family's photos have been trampled under the feet of Islamic State fighters.

(The Elia family look at video footage of their ransacked house on computer. Shlimon wipes his eyes)

SHLIMON ELIA (voiceover): This is an old picture of me when I was young.

MATT BROWN: IS was forced out of the town by Christian militiamen, like Abjr Nukhroyer, aided by US-led air strikes.

ABJR NUKHROYER, CHRISTIAN MILITIAMAN (voiceover): When we first heard that they'd removed the crosses and deformed the statues, we were furious. We felt they wanted to erase us and kill us all.

MATT BROWN: They found the local church had been completely destroyed.

(The Elia family look at video footage of the ruined church on computer)

SAMIRA ELIA (voiceover): We've known this church since childhood. It's so hard. This was our church since we were little.

(Islamic State footage of soldiers destroying an Assyrian temple)

MATT BROWN: The attack on Assyrian culture has been widespread. Islamic State made world headlines in April when they destroyed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.

ABJR NUKHROYER (voiceover): It's a tragic feeling: threatening a whole religion and trying to wipe it out completely.

MATT BROWN: The Elias, like many Syrians, fear the country they once knew is simply broken and they will never be able to return.

SAMIRA ELIA (voiceover): We thought: things will settle in six months and we'll come back to our properties, our houses, our land. We left everything behind.

All is gone.

LEIGH SALES: Matt Brown reporting.