Tag: Alqosh

Christians who fled IS displaced again as Iraqi and Kurdish forces clash

October 25, 2017 Iraq Alqosh, Bashiqa, Dohuk, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Tel Skuf

Fighting has erupted between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in a predominantly Christian town in northern Iraq, causing residents to flee. Around 900 families have fled Telskuf and its surrounding villages – part of the Nineveh Plains region of northern Iraq liberated last year from the Islamic State group – to . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians reject second mayor installed by pro-Kurd council

August 2, 2017 Iraq Alqosh, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds

Christians in a recently repopulated Iraqi town have protested against a second Kurdish-appointed mayor amid fears of a Kurdish drive to usurp control of northern Christian-majority towns. Lara Yousif, a Chaldean Catholic and a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), was appointed mayor of Alqosh by the pro-Kurdish Nineveh . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians fear Kurdish agenda behind removal of mayor

July 28, 2017 Iraq Alqosh, Assyrians, Baghdad, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Syria

Assyrians protest in Alqosh against the removal of the Assyrian mayor by the Kurdish Regional Government. (Photo: AINA)

Iraqi Christians are increasingly fearful that the recent ousting of a Christian mayor by a pro-Kurdish council is evidence of a Kurdish agenda to usurp control of northern Christian-majority towns. Fayez Abed Jawahreh, the mayor of Alqosh, a Chaldean-majority town, was dismissed from office on 16 July by Bashar Al . . . Read More

Iraqi families urged to return and rebuild homes in Nineveh Plains

March 3, 2017 Iraq Alqosh, Batnaya, Dohuk, IDPs, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Tel Skuf

The families of Nidal (left) and Janan (centre) recently returned home to the Christian town of Telskuf.Open Doors International As the offensive against IS in western Mosul drives civilians out of the jihadists’ last Iraqi stronghold, residents of towns already liberated are returning home with their expectations high – . . . Read More

Alqosh, the last Christian town in Iraq, is here to stay

November 3, 2016 Iraq Alqosh, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga

A view from the Christian town of Alqosh in the Nineveh Plain.World Watch Monitor For more than two years it lasted, just minutes away from Islamic State-held territory. The Iraqi town of Alqosh (50km north of Mosul) is the only Christian stronghold in the country that survived IS. Looking . . . Read More

Frontier town sees first Communion despite IS

August 18, 2016 Iraq Alqosh, Assyrians, Chaldeans, IDPs, Iraq, Louis Raphael I Sako, Nineveh Plains

A Christian town some 50km north of the Islamic State’s Iraq stronghold of Mosul has celebrated its first Communion Mass, completing the initiation of a hundred boys and girls in the faith. In what was described as a “historic moment”, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako presided over the ceremony . . . Read More

‘One week’ deadlines for Iraqi Christians to convert or ‘face the sword’

August 22, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Ankawa, Assyrians, Bartella, Dohuk, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh, Trauma, UN

A Christian Iraqi refugee sweeping the concrete floor of the unfinished building where she now lives. Ankawa; August 20 2014World Watch Monitor An Iraqi Christian Mikha Qasha, fleeing from Qaraqosh, has given a personal account of members of the Islamic State, IS, coming to his house and threatening him . . . Read More

IS invades monastery, steals ‘everything’ from Iraqi Christians

July 22, 2014 Iraq Al-Qaeda, Alqosh, Baghdad, Batnaya, Chaldeans, Dohuk, Erbil, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jizya, Kidnapping, Kurds, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Sunni, Tel Kaif

After every known Christian is reported to have left Mosul, Islamic State fighters, IS, have now taken over a monastery near the largely Christian town of Qaraqosh, 32 miles southeast of Mosul. According to Agence France Presse IS expelled its three resident monks, a cleric and a few families living there, ordering . . . Read More

Fewer Christians left to flee

June 18, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul

Over the years, the Christian town of Alqosh, Iraq, has served as a refuge to Christians of Mosul who have fled various waves of violence in their home city. Now, with the jihadist ISIS in control of Mosul, most of those fleeing the city for comparative safety in Alqosh are . . . Read More

Mosul Christians tell of ISIS forces’ Iraqi takeover

June 12, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Ankawa, Baghdad, Dohuk, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Sunni, Syria

The radical Sunni Islamist ISIS forces continue their takeover of cities in Iraq. Many have fled possible clashes between ISIS and the Iraqi army, and the feared violence ISIS has already shown in places it controls, such as Syrian city Raqqa. Thousands are now in Erbil, 88km (55 miles) east . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye