Tag: Bashar al-Assad

2014: A year of particular concern

April 30, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-balaka, Bashar al-Assad, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Chibok girls, Chin, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, Kachin, Kano, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Potiskum, Rohingya, Saudi Arabia, Seleka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

If ever there were a year that made plain the importance of religious freedom, 2014 was it, according to the just-released annual report by an American government advisory group. “By any measure, the horrors of the past year speak volumes about how and why religious freedom and the protection of the . . . Read More

Assyrian Christians flee jihadists to southeast Turkey

March 27, 2015 Syria Armenians, Assyrians, Bashar al-Assad, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Qamishli, Syriacs, Turkey

A harsh Islamic State offensive begun in late February against Syria’s dwindling Assyrian Christian population is accelerating a steady trickle of Christian refugees trying desperately to reach safety in Turkey, northern Iraq and Lebanon. But their future is far from guaranteed as refugees in Muslim-majority Turkey, where according to Turkish . . . Read More

Four years since teenage graffiti sparks Syrian civil war

March 12, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Arab Spring, Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Daraa, Islamic State, Khabur, Syria

Four years ago this week a group of young teenagers with a can full of paint sprayed messages on a wall in the Syrian city of Daraa. They couldn’t have known it but, over the next nine days, their graffiti would escalate into the Syrian civil war, which reaches its . . . Read More

Dispatch from Aleppo

December 3, 2014 Syria Aleppo, Bashar al-Assad, Civil War

Free Syrian Army fight government forces, north of Aleppo 21 Aug 2012Photo: CC/ Christiaan Triebert From today World Watch Monitor will publish an occasional diary from a Christian pastor living in Aleppo, the Syrian city that has become a key battleground between rebels and President Assad’s government forces. After . . . Read More

All Knayeh hostages free

October 13, 2014 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Bashar al-Assad, Boulos Yazigi, Homs, Idlib, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Raqqa, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

NOTE: This report, originally posted Oct. 8, is updated to include the release of all hostages The last of a group of 20 Syrian Christians kidnapped Oct. 5 have been released as their pastor awaits trial before an Islamic court. Rev. Hanna Jallouf, a Franciscan priest in the northeastern Syria town of Knayeh, was abducted with about 20 . . . Read More

UN urged to protect Syria’s civilians

September 25, 2014 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Islamic State, Syria, Trauma, UN

Open Doors International, a global charity serving Christians who are under pressure because of their faith, has joined 38 non-governmental organizations in a campaign demanding diplomatic action to protect civilians amid Syria’s civil war. The campaign, called ‘With Syria,’ intends to redouble pressure on United Nations members to live up . . . Read More

First Christian ever to run for Syrian presidency

May 1, 2014 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Syria

Shamih Mikhael Moussa, born in Btaiha, Syria in 1963, is the first Christian trying to run for President of the Arab Republic. The deadline for submitting one’s application for candidacy to the Constitutional Court expired on May 1, but the country’s 3 June presidential elections, anticipates another win by President . . . Read More

Vatican to hold peace talks

January 9, 2014 Bashar al-Assad, Islamic extremism, Syria, Tony Blair, UK

The Vatican has scheduled a meeting for Jan. 13 to discuss the potential for a ceasefire in Syria, ahead of UN-backed peace talks in Geneva, planned to start on Jan. 24. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Vatican Radio that a cessation of hostilities was vital “in order to allow humanitarian . . . Read More

Jihadists could end Christianity in Syria if given power, says nun

November 22, 2013 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Islamic extremism

An outspoken Catholic nun living in Syria has denied suggestions that she believes the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad would bring an end to Christianity in Syria. Instead, Mother Agnes-Mariam says that could be the consequence if religious extremists were to seize on a power vacuum left by his deposition. . . . Read More

Radical Islamists ‘control much of northern Syria’

November 7, 2013 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Maaloula, Raqqa, Sadad

CNN claims ISIS has taken control of key entry points into the city of Aleppo.David Holt / Flickr / Creative Commons A new survey of Syrian towns by CNN suggests that much of northern Syria has come under the control of radical Islamist groups. CNN claims that Islamist militants, . . . Read More

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