Tag: Kurds

Trump travel ban dints Iraqi Christians’ support

February 23, 2017 Iraq Assyrians, Dohuk, Donald Trump, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kurds, USA

Iraqi Christians who backed the candidacy of Donald Trump have become disillusioned with his presidency since his executive order barred Iraqis, along with citizens of six other Muslim-majority countries, from entering the US. Many Iraqi minorities supported Trump because of his anti-Islamic State rhetoric. The Assyrian Church of the East’s . . . Read More

Devastated northern Iraq needs ‘new Marshall Plan’ for reconstruction

February 3, 2017 Iraq Bashar Warda, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Kurds, Middle East, Refugees

The liberated town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plains, 21km east of Mosul, is today a picture of destruction.Open Doors The Archbishop of Erbil in northern Iraq, who is overseeing the care of thousands of displaced Christians who fled Islamic State jihadists, has announced ambitious plans for the Church . . . Read More

Cleaning up towns freed from IS ‘erases evidence of their crimes’

February 2, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Dr. Sarah Ahmed at the cathedral in Qaraqosh, where IS appeared to have used mannequins looted from a local tailor’s to practise shooting.FRRME Efforts to clear villages liberated from Islamic State are undermining the possibility of recording the atrocities to people and heritage committed there, according to a leading . . . Read More

Devastation of liberated Iraqi Christian towns makes return home seem further away than ever

December 15, 2016 Iraq Bartella, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Karamles, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Now the smoke has gone from the Nineveh Plain, it is clear that Islamic State fighters dealt one final, vicious blow to the Christian population before surrendering its occupied towns: by systematically setting fire to their homes, thousands have become practically uninhabitable. Suddenly, for many Christians, the prospect of returning . . . Read More

‘Defeating IS won’t guarantee Christians’ return’

November 21, 2016 Iraq Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds

The military defeat of Islamic State (IS) will not be enough to encourage displaced Iraqi Christians back to the cities, towns and villages from which the jihadists chased them, according to a senior priest in the region. Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana, a priest in the Assyrian Church of the East and . . . Read More

Under the shadow of IS: Iraqi Christians tell of crucifixions, torture, sex slavery

November 21, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Batnaya, Islamic State, Jordan, Kurds, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Islamic State jihadists hung Karlus, 29, from the ceiling of the jail he was held in, by a rope attached to his left foot. As blood poured from his foot, they beat and kicked him, rubbing salt into his wounds.ADF International Islamic State (IS) jihadists hung Karlus, a 29-year-old . . . Read More

Christian convert in French refugee camp told: ‘We will kill you’

November 2, 2016 Austria, Calais, Croatia, Dunkirk, Grande-Synthe, Greece, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jacques Hamel, Kurds, Migrants, Refugees

A Kurdish church leader smuggled to Britain says he received death threats – for having left Islam for Christianity – while living in makeshift camps in northern France. The church leader, who did not wish to be identified, spent nine months living in camps outside the French cities of Calais . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians look homeward toward Mosul, uncertainly

October 21, 2016 Iraq Bashiqa, Islamic State, Jordan, Kurds, Lebanon, Mosul, Peshmerga, Refugees, Saddam Hussein

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 . . . Read More

One ‘Christian’ town freed en route to Mosul

October 21, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Bartella, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

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 . . . Read More

Kurdish YPG ‘occupy’ Assyrian villages in northeast Syria

October 4, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Chaldeans, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kurds, Syria

As fighting intensifies to retake areas of north-eastern Syria from the so-called Islamic State (IS), the media spotlight shows the complexity of the military picture. The Khabur River region in Syria’s Hasakah province was attacked by IS in February 2015. Thirty-five Assyrian villages were emptied; days later IS kidnapped and . . . Read More

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