Once home to one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East, Iraq today is in danger of losing Christianity completely. The Islamic State group forced thousands of Christians to flee after it stormed through the Nineveh Plains in 2014. Some have now returned, following IS’s military defeat. But even with IS gone, in many areas of Iraq daily life is governed by Sharia (Islamic law) and Muslims are forbidden to leave Islam.
Christian killed in Basra for ‘selling alcohol’
A Christian shop owner said to be serving alcohol was shot dead in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, days after the country’s parliament passed a law prohibiting the commodity deemed “un-Islamic”. Nizar Elias Musa, 47, was shot in the neck late on Tuesday (25 Oct.) by two unidentified gunmen riding […]
Alqosh, the last Christian town in Iraq, is here to stay
A view from the Christian town of Alqosh in the Nineveh Plain.World Watch Monitor For more than two years it lasted, just minutes away from Islamic State-held territory. The Iraqi town of Alqosh (50km north of Mosul) is the only Christian stronghold in the country that survived IS. Looking […]
The Cross, deemed illegal by IS, returns to Iraq’s Nineveh Plain
There were tears, soldiers praying, priests singing. This was the moment thousands of Iraqi Christians had been waiting for: the Cross, symbol of Christ’s victory over evil, deemed illegal by IS, had returned to the Christian villages in Iraq’s Nineveh Plain. This came as news continues to emerge of more […]
Iraqi Christian girls, hiding under bed from IS, text priest: ‘Please come for us’
“It’s a miracle. A true miracle. We prayed a lot and God answered.” The words of Iraqi Syriac-Catholic priest Ammar in the wake of last weekend’s remarkable story of seven Christian female students in Kirkuk, who hid under their beds for seven hours while soldiers from the self-proclaimed Islamic State […]
More Iraqi towns ‘freed’ but Nineveh Christians not confident about safe return
The heavily damaged and burnt Tahira (Immaculate) Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdeda.World Watch Monitor As prayers were offered in Syriac in front of the altar of the trashed church of Mart Shmoni in the recently freed town of Bartella, more homes where Christians used to live in Iraq’s north-eastern […]
Iraqi Christians look homeward toward Mosul, uncertainly
Displaced Iraqi Christians take part in celebrations on 18 October in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to mark the liberation of Qaraqosh, which was Iraq’s largest Christian town before it was overun by Islamic State militants in August 2014. Tens of thousands of […]
One ‘Christian’ town freed en route to Mosul
As anti-Islamic State (IS) forces continue their operations to recapture Iraq’s second city of Mosul, Christians from towns around it have welcomed the retaking of their two-years’ deserted homes. According to sources monitoring the situation on the ground, Bartella, a town with a significant Christian presence prior to the IS […]
As retake of Mosul looms, Muslim extremism has already emptied Iraq of Christians
A young girl lights a candle in an artificial cave at Mar Elia church, Ankawa (Irbil), where many displaced Christians have taken refuge.World Watch Monitor On Monday (17 October) Iraq’s Army finally announced the beginning of its offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from the “Islamic State” […]
‘Accelerated targeting’ of ‘disproportionately suffering’ Middle East Christians
The Middle East, the historic cradle of Christianity, is today witnessing an accelerated “targeting” of its remaining Christians, according to a report aiming to rally world attention to threats facing ancient communities in Syria and Iraq. “Civil war in Syria and Iraq has unleashed a tidal wave of violent persecution. […]
Monk living near Mosul: ‘Persecution is a pride for us’
St. Matthew’s monastery falls halfway between Mosul and Iraq’s Kurdistan.World Watch Monitor As anti-Islamic State (IS) forces prepare for a major push to dislodge the jihadists from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, thoughts are turning to what could happen to those still living in the region. Displacement camps are […]