Tag: Assyrians

Assyrian Christians flee jihadists to southeast Turkey

March 27, 2015 Syria Armenians, Assyrians, Bashar al-Assad, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Qamishli, Syriacs, Turkey

A harsh Islamic State offensive begun in late February against Syria’s dwindling Assyrian Christian population is accelerating a steady trickle of Christian refugees trying desperately to reach safety in Turkey, northern Iraq and Lebanon. But their future is far from guaranteed as refugees in Muslim-majority Turkey, where according to Turkish . . . Read More

US ‘passive’ on IS’s ‘war on Christianity’

March 13, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Assyrians, Chaldeans, Genocide, Islamic State, Middle East, Syria, USA

The Islamic State is “crucifying Christians and demolishing ancient churches” in a “war on Christianity” in the Middle East, according to an opinion piece on the US-based website, Foreign Policy. Why, the title asks, is this being met with silence from the halls of Congress to Sunday sermons? In-house writers . . . Read More

Reports of ‘blanket’ release of Assyrians dashed

March 12, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

Most Assyrian Christian families taken hostage in northeast Syria more than two weeks ago remain in Islamic State hands, despite initial reports indicating all, or nearly all, had been released. Initial news that IS forces had released all the Christian detainees after Friday prayers March 6 was reported to the . . . Read More

23 Assyrian Christians released in Syria

March 6, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Kobani, Qamishli, Syria, Syriacs

Assyrians from Tel Goran village, abducted by Islamic State kidnappers in late February, were released and returned safely in Hassaka on March 2.Photo provided by CAPNI Ten days after the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s harsh offensive emptied out a cluster of Assyrian Christian villages in northeast Syria, the extremists’ intentions . . . Read More

Iranian pastor released from prison but others arrested same day remain

February 27, 2015 Iran Armenians, Assyrians, Ayatollah Khamenei, Chaldeans, Evin Prison, Farshid Fathi, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Islamic extremism, Religious freedom, Sunni, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

After spending more than one year in prison, for ‘collusion against the [Iranian] government’ and ‘evangelism,’ Iranian pastor Rasoul Abdollahi has been released from prison. Abdollahi, a leader in Iran’s house church movement, was arrested Dec. 26 2010 and released last week, Feb. 16. His arrest was the same day . . . Read More

72 Assyrian Christian families captured, 50 besieged by IS after Syria attack

February 25, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Qamishli, Syria

2009 Easter service at St Mary’s Church, Hassaka. Now only 200 Christian families remain in nearby villages.Photo: World Watch Monitor Sources from Syria’s embattled Hassaka province confirmed at midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 24, that at least 72 Assyrian Christian families – thought to be around 200 people – from three . . . Read More

IS invades 35 Assyrian towns in Syria

February 24, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Qamishli, UN

Militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State launched a fierce offensive before dawn Feb. 23, targeting 35 Assyrian Christian villages in the northeast corner of Syria. The surprise attacks along a 40-kilometer stretch of the Khabour River in Hassaka province forced some 3,000 Christians to flee their homes. A teenage . . . Read More

Christmas arrests in Iran: 11 still detained

January 15, 2015 Iran Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Christmas, Converts, Evin Prison, Human rights, Iran, Minorities, Religious freedom, UK, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Zoroastrians

As the US Secretary of State meets his Iranian counterpart in a bid to revive stalled talks over Iran’s nuclear programme, human rights experts are keen that issues of freedom of religion are not overlooked. This week, the UK Foreign Office has said that it’s raised its concern with the . . . Read More

Iran breaks up post-Christmas service

December 30, 2014 Iran Assyrians, Christmas, Evin Prison, Iran, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

Two Christians were jailed and several others questioned after Iranian officials interrupted a Dec. 26 post-Christmas service in Tehran, . “Tens” of plain-clothed security officers, who identified themselves as agents of he Revolutionary Court, entered the home of an Assyrian Christian and declared their worship service to be “Unauthorized and . . . 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

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