Tag: Islamic State

‘Coptic’ vet assassinated ‘by IS affiliates’

February 15, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Sinai

A vet believed to be a Coptic Christian was shot dead in Egypt’s increasingly lawless North Sinai province, according to reports. The state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported that the man was Coptic and came under heavy fire from unknown assailants as he left his clinic in a suburb of North Sinai’s . . . Read More

Turkey nightclub-massacre accused says he targeted Christians

February 14, 2017 Turkey Ankara, Coup, Islamic State, Terrorism

The man charged with killing 39 people on New Year’s Eve at Istanbul’s exclusive Reina nightclub attack, Abdulkadir Masharipov, has testified before a Turkish court, saying: “My purpose was to kill Christians”. The Uzbek national was arraigned in court 11 Feb., nearly a month after he was captured by Istanbul police 16 . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian couple despair at sight of house IS destroyed

February 14, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Karamles, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Tel Skuf

Almas and her husband, Hathem, stand inside the remains of their house, destroyed by IS, Jan 2017.World Watch Monitor Hathem and Almas are hoping to be among the first people to return to Karamles, a now-deserted town in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq. “This is our town, where . . . Read More

Video: Christians begin Qaraqosh clean-up

February 13, 2017 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

Now that their city has been liberated from Islamic State (IS) fighters, Christian families have begun cleaning up Qaraqosh in a bid to reclaim their lives in northern Iraq. One of the first jobs is removing IS graffiti, reports Al Jazeera English. “The writing on the wall is just superficial. It . . . Read More

Young Syrian tells how he survived ‘worst-case scenario’ of kidnap and torture by Islamic State

February 9, 2017 Syria Aleppo, Islamic State, Qamishli, Raqqa

Meghrik was kidnapped and tortured by Islamic State before his release. Photo: December 2016.World Watch Monitor Meghrik* was on a bus when it happened. He was travelling from Aleppo to Al-Qamishli in the north east of Syria, a seven-hour journey even before the war started. Now war means there . . . 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

Sifting through the debris of IS’s destruction

February 1, 2017 Iraq Bartella, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

The formerly Christian towns in northern Iraq liberated from Islamic State have been “destroyed” by jihadists who used a cathedral courtyard as a shooting range, according to a lawyer who visited them. Vienna-based legal counsel Ewelina Ochab, author of Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle . . . Read More

‘Many years’ before Mosul stable enough for Christians to return

January 30, 2017 Iraq Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

Christians and other non-Sunni Muslims from Mosul, northern Iraq, waiting to return after their city’s liberation from Islamic State is completed, may have many years to wait, and their chances of doing so depend on the actions of the Iraqi Government, a leading researcher has warned. Iraqi forces man a . . . Read More

Christians ‘excluded’ from Iraq’s reconstruction plans

January 27, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Christians are being excluded from the reconstruction plans for northern Iraq, further eroding the likelihood of their return once Islamic State has been militarily defeated there, an alliance of UK-based charities has warned. Iraqi Christians firmly believe that Iraq is their spiritual homeland; their presence dates back at least to . . . Read More

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