Viewpoint: A troubling call from Syria

Viewpoint: A troubling call from Syria
Nuri Kino is a Sweden-based independent investigative reporter, filmmaker, author, Middle East and human-rights analyst. His report, titled ‘The Camp‘, which examined the construction of a massive refugee camp for Syrian Christians inside Turkey, appeared on May 5 at World Watch Monitor. Aug. 26 Early this morning I received a phone . . . Read More

Italian priest still unaccounted for in Syria

Italian priest still unaccounted for in Syria
Conflicting reports are emerging about the whereabouts and welfare of an Italian Jesuit priest who went missing almost one month ago. Reuters reported on July 29 that Fr. Paolo Dall’Oglio had been abducted by Islamists with links to Al-Qaeda in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, but the Vatican would . . . Read More

What caused Syria’s civil war?

What caused Syria’s civil war?
Throughout its history, ancient and modern, Syria has played host to ethnic and religious minorities living together very much in harmony. Syria, in the original sense of what is now known as “Greater Syria”, encompassed much of the Levant – today’s states of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, plus a . . . Read More

Archbishop of Canterbury and UK Foreign Office Minister alerted to need of Syrian Christians

Archbishop of Canterbury and UK Foreign Office Minister alerted to need of Syrian Christians
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the UK Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), have both acknowledged the findings of a report which says that Christians in Syria are increasingly targeted and vulnerable to persecution, amidst the on-going conflict there. Syria: Church on . . . Read More

Sabra now says he doesn’t know bishops’ whereabouts

Sabra now says he doesn’t know bishops’ whereabouts
The leader of the Syrian opposition coalition is backing away from previous reports that he is certain of the location and condition of two Syrian Orthodox bishops kidnapped April 22. George Sabra, president of the Syrian National Coalition, told World Watch Monitor on May 21 he is not informed of . . . Read More

Africa rises on World Watch List of worst persecutors

Africa rises on World Watch List of worst persecutors
Africa, where Christianity spread fastest during the past century, now is the region where oppression of Christians is spreading fastest, a new report says. The two-year-old Arab Spring has toppled autocrats across Northern Africa, but it also has energized militant Islamist movements that have killed hundreds of Christians and endanger . . . Read More

Syrian Christians targeted for their politics or their faith?

Syrian Christians targeted for their politics or their faith?
Wednesday 28th’s twin deadly car bombs in the Christian and Druze suburb of Jaramana in the Syrian capital Damascus appeared to target two communities which so far have not joined the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s government. State media said “terrorists” were behind the blasts, which killed at least 38 . . . Read More