Tag: Islamic State

More Iraqi towns ‘freed’ but Nineveh Christians not confident about safe return

October 25, 2016 Iraq Bartella, Bashiqa, Chaldeans, Islamic State, Karamles, Middle East, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Tel Kaif

The heavily damaged and burnt Tahira (Immaculate) Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdeda.World Watch Monitor As prayers were offered in Syriac in front of the altar of the trashed church of Mart Shmoni in the recently freed town of Bartella, more homes where Christians used to live in Iraq’s north-eastern . . . 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

As retake of Mosul looms, Muslim extremism has already emptied Iraq of Christians

October 19, 2016 Iraq Dohuk, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Mosul

A young girl lights a candle in an artificial cave at Mar Elia church, Ankawa (Irbil), where many displaced Christians have taken refuge.World Watch Monitor On Monday (17 October) Iraq’s Army finally announced the beginning of its offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from the “Islamic State” . . . Read More

ISIS defeated at ‘apocalyptic’ battleground, Dabiq

October 18, 2016 Syria Al-Qaeda, Dabiq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Prophet Muhammad, Syria

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have recaptured the symbolically important Syrian town of Dabiq from the Islamic State (IS). A commander from the Hamza Brigade rebel group told the Associated Press resistance from IS was “minimal”. Dabiq holds major significance for IS as the location of a prophesied battle it . It’s . . . Read More

Monk living near Mosul: ‘Persecution is a pride for us’

October 13, 2016 Iraq Islamic State, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Tel Skuf

St. Matthew’s monastery falls halfway between Mosul and Iraq’s Kurdistan.World Watch Monitor As anti-Islamic State (IS) forces prepare for a major push to dislodge the jihadists from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, thoughts are turning to what could happen to those still living in the region. Displacement camps are . . . Read More

IS blows up Assyrian church near Mosul

October 10, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

An Assyrian church in Iraq’s north-eastern Nineveh Plains was on Sunday (9 October) the latest to be destroyed by “the Islamic State” (IS), as the jihadist group continues to face losses on the ground. St. Barbara Fouq Attal (on-the-Hill) was blown up when IS fighters “detonated a number of explosive . . . Read More

Erdogan: ‘Only Sunni Muslims should live in Mosul’

October 7, 2016 Al-Qaeda, Ankawa, Arabs, Assyrians, Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Qatar, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Arabia, Sunni, Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared that only Sunni Muslims should be allowed to live in the second largest Iraqi city of Mosul once it has been liberated from Islamic State control. Interviewed by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on the Saudi Arabia-based TV station Rotana Khalejia on 2 Oct., . . . Read More

‘Apocalyptic’ battle for Dabiq, Syria ‘imminent’

October 4, 2016 Syria Al-Qaeda, Dabiq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Prophet Muhammad, Syria

US-backed Syrian rebels are reported to be closing in on the northern Syrian town of Dabiq, which holds major significance for ISIS as the location of a prophesied battle it believes will lead to the end of the world. It’s about 40km (25 miles) north-east of Aleppo and 10km (6.2km) . . . 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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