Tag: Islamic State

Iran appears to fight Islamic State, but are their ultimate goals too similar for comfort?

October 16, 2014 Iran Behnam Irani, Hamas, Hassan Rouhani, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, UK, UN, USA

ISISKarl-Ludwig Poggemann / Flickr / Creative Commons It says something about the depths of worldwide revulsion to the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” that Western powers such as the US and the UK have been sitting at the same table with Iran to discuss how to defeat the deadly Islamist movement . . . 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

Assyrians on patrol

October 8, 2014 Iraq Assyrians, Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga

When World Watch Monitor on the renewed fervor for the creation of a Christian-governed province in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, we noted how some Christian refugees from the violence of the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” had formed paramilitary units to help Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Now an up-close look at two Assyrian Iraqis . . . Read More

Arab churches’ key contribution to Iraqi relief

October 1, 2014 Iraq Ankawa, Erbil, Islamic State, Trauma, UN, Yazidis

Members of Kasr el-Dobara church in Egypt, shown in 2012, have given generously to support refugees in Iraq.World Watch Monitor As a coalition of Western and Arab countries continues military action to try to defeat Islamic State (IS), it’s timely to hear how the region’s largest Christian minority – . . . Read More

What’s the threat of Islamic State to the Church worldwide?

September 25, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Qaeda, Bartella, Dohuk, Erbil, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jizya, Jordan, Kurds, Lebanon, Muslim Brotherhood, Qaraqosh, Quran, Salafism, Sharia, Sunni, Syria

While Islamic State is wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria, its ambitions do not stop there. Moreover, several world leaders are saying it is one of the biggest threats they are facing. But exactly how does Islamic State fit into the global picture of Christians under pressure for their faith . . . 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

‘The work of a generation’

September 24, 2014 Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Tony Blair, UK

UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair has penned a seven-point assessment of what he calls “the issue of our time”: the threat of Islamic extremism. Blair’s essay, posted Sept. 22 on the website of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, has attracted attention for its acknowledgment that Western ground forces likely . . . Read More

New urgency for an old idea: Nineveh

September 17, 2014 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Basra, Fallujah, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Saddam Hussein, Tel Kaif

An ancient Nineveh gate, east of Mosul.James Gordon / Flickr / Creative Commons The militant Islamist rampage across Iraq has intensified calls for a Christian “safe zone,” even as it has made the task of achieving it more difficult. The jihadists, who call their movement the “Islamic State,” have . . . Read More

Recently engaged man loses his fiancée, mother and nephew in IS Baghdad bombings

September 15, 2014 Iraq Baghdad, Islamic State, USA

Alghadeer shopping area after the bombing. Baghdad, IraqCourtesy of Ankawa.com The violent jihadist incursion into Iraq is suspected of attacks in Baghdad Sept. 10 that killed about 30 people and injured several others. Three car bombs exploded minutes apart in Alghadeer, a Shi’ite neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad. The bombings . . . Read More

Lebanese stockpiling weapons against IS

September 10, 2014 Lebanon Islamic State, Lebanon, Refugees, Syria

The Associated Press (AP) reports that some Lebanese Christians are stockpiling weapons and setting up self-defence units to protect themselves from the Islamic State. This report came the day before IS militants beheaded Lebanese soldier Abbas Medlej who had been taken hostage by the group’s militants in August. Photos of . . . Read More

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