Tag: Iraq

Why do we not save Christians?

October 7, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Iraq, Israel, Jews, Middle East, Sunni, Syria, USA, Yemen

Why is the West, with its “overwhelming” majority of Christians, showing reluctance to offer a home to Christians fleeing the Middle East, asks Elliott Abrams, writing in The Weekly Standard. The former foreign policy advisor to President George W. Bush compares the reluctance with Israel’s willingness to accept Jews persecuted . . . Read More

Obama appoints religious minorities envoy

September 28, 2015 Barack Obama, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Syria, USA

President Obama has created a new special envoy position to address the persecution of religious minorities. Knox Thames was appointed to the long-awaited position of special envoy for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia to coincide with the visit of Pope Francis to the White House . . . Read More

Call to the European Church to stand with refugees

September 23, 2015 Europe, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Migrants, Muammar Gaddafi, Qatar, Refugees, Saudi Arabia, Syria

As Europe struggles to manage the migrant crisis, some church leaders in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq are saying that some refugees are ‘fed up with Islam’ because Gulf countries aren’t offering them help. These leaders’ message to the European Church is ‘be prepared’ to welcome the many Muslims who are . . . Read More

‘We won’t let diversity of ME disappear’

September 9, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Europe, France, Iraq, Islamic State, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Paris, Syria, Turkey, UN, Yazidis

A UN conference has announced a plan to protect minorities persecuted by the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East. Speaking at the conference in Paris of 60 countries on Tuesday, 8 Sep., French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said several countries would announce financial pledges in the coming months for . . . Read More

Another ancient Assyrian monastery bulldozed

August 21, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Bashar al-Assad, Homs, Iraq, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Raqqa, Syria

Photographs posted Thursday on Twitter accounts linked to the Islamic State destroyed in the past six months by jihadist fighters. The 5th century Mar Elian Monastery in Syria’s western Homs province was located on the outskirts of Qaryatain city, captured by IS militants two weeks ago from Assad regime control. An . . . Read More

IS ‘enshrines theology of rape’

August 14, 2015 Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Iraq, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Rape, Syria, West Africa

In 2014, following the kidnapping of 230 teenage girls from the mainly Christian enclave of Chibok in northern Nigeria, World Watch Monitor asked the question: How does Boko Haram justify its actions? A year later, The New York Times reports that the self-proclaimed Islamic State has “enshrined a theology of . . . Read More

IS turns ancient Mosul church into mosque

July 14, 2015 Hasakah, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Ramadan, Syria

Islamic State has turned an ancient Chaldean church in Mosul, Iraq into a mosque, according to Fides. St Joseph church, which is considered to be one the oldest churches of the Chaldean denomination and overlooks the Tigris river, has been turned into the Abi Abd El-Rahman Elbilawi mosque, named after a . . . Read More

Islamist forces battle for Hassaka and Aleppo

June 5, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Hasakah, Iraq, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

Islamic State jihadists have begun closing in on two cities in northern Syria where there are still significant Christian communities. “IS is attacking Hassaka, and the situation is not that secure,” Father Emanuel Youkhana from the Christian Aid Program in Northern Iraq (CAPNI) told the Catholic Aleteia network on June . . . Read More

EU ‘must do more’ to stop religious freedom abuses

June 4, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Brunei, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen

Left to right: MEP Dennis de Jong, USCIRF’s Katrina Lantos Swett, EEAS’s Silvio Gonzato, and MEP Peter van Dalen at the report’s launch in Brussels on 3 June.Courtesy European Parliament Intergroup The new European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, said in October 2014 that upholding the . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye