Tag: Erbil

Thinking of home this Christmas, displaced Iraqi Christians look ahead with hope

December 24, 2015 Iraq Christmas, Dohuk, Erbil

This nativity picture hung inside Nissan’s caravan. The family wished to keep their own photos private.World Watch Monitor Back at home in their Nineveh Plain town of Qaraqosh, the children learnt ‘Aboun Bashmayo‘, or ‘Our Father…,‘ in their original Syriac tongue. Now, as refugees, they were singing ‘Forgive us . . . Read More

Erbil airport closure delays Christians leaving Iraq for Europe

December 7, 2015 Iraq Ankawa, Erbil, Islamic State, Kurds

Fr Douglas reveals news that a flight taking displaced Christians from Iraq to Slovakia is delayed, Dec 2015World Watch Monitor We know that some Eastern European countries have been specifying that they are happy to take Christians direct from Iraqi IDP camps, and months of work had started to . . . Read More

Iraqi Patriarch challenges ‘identity law’

November 11, 2015 Iraq Baghdad, Children, Converts, Erbil, Iraq, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Yazidis

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq renewed his opposition this week to an article in the nation’s new national laws requiring minority-faith children to become Muslims if one parent converts to Islam. Describing the new law as both unconstitutional and “unacceptable,” Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has called on President . . . Read More

Iraq’s ISIS survivors adjust to life in a refugee camp

September 17, 2015 Iraq Erbil, Islamic State, Mosul, Refugees, UN

As the world attempts to come to terms with the thousands of refugees escaping the horrors of war in Syria and Iraq, World Watch Monitor hears what life is like for the hundreds of families from northern Iraq who fled overnight from an invading ISIS force to settle in a makeshift camp, which has now . . . Read More

‘Fabric of Iraqi society depends on Christians’

April 15, 2015 Iraq Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul

The head of the Catholic Church in Britain said after a weekend visit to the Iraqi city of Erbil that “the presence of the Christian community is essential” for the rebuilding of Iraq’s fractured society, once the Islamic State is overthrown there. But he admitted, “There is no way the . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians still held by Islamic State ‘against their will’

February 1, 2015 Iraq Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Mosul, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Refugees

More news has emerged about the situation of Christians who are still being detained in Islamic State after ten elderly Christians, some with disabilities, managed to escape. The group, eight men and two women, were ‘expelled’ by IS militants for refusing to convert to Islam. They spent two days travelling . . . Read More

Vicar of Baghdad leaves Baghdad

October 10, 2014 Iraq Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, Kurds

Saying the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” is operating in Baghdad, the Anglican Vicar of Baghdad, Andrew White, has abandoned the capital city. White made the announcement on on Oct. 7, after a discussion with the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. “He has agreed for me to . . . 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

Iraqi Erbil priest: “We aim to treat our refugees as guests”

September 15, 2014 Iraq Ankawa, Catholics, Chaldeans, Erbil, Nineveh Plains

The so-far ‘safe’ city of Erbil in Kurdish-governed north-eastern Iraq has seen thousands of Christian refugees arrive over the last few months with many relying on the church for sanctuary. But how are local churches bearing up to the influx? In the Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic church in the suburb . . . Read More

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