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House panel decries Islamic State genocide

The Foreign Affairs Committee also voted to label Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal.
Committee chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) speaks during a hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill June 2, 2015 in Washington, DC. The committee held the hearing to hear from four family members of Americans held in in Iran. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI        (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Congress has taken its first step toward labeling Islamic State (IS) atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities a genocide in an effort to convince President Barack Obama to follow suit.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on the measure March 2, two weeks before the administration is supposed to render its ruling on the issue under the terms of December's omnibus spending bill. Obama appears ready to apply the label for Yazidis, Yahoo News reported in November, but not Christians and other groups who also face persecution but may not meet the legal threshold.

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