Tag: Islamic State

Iraqi MPs reject ‘safe areas’ for Christians

September 28, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Shia, Sunni, Yazidis

A majority of Iraq’s Members of Parliament have rejected any proposals to set aside safe areas for Christians and other indigenous minorities in the country’s Nineveh Plains, once the province is liberated from the “Islamic State” (IS). “The Parliament has voted to keep Nineveh’s provincial boundaries as they were prior . . . Read More

Run over by US tank, run out of his home by IS: Iraqi monk’s own experience helps others

September 27, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

First he was run over by a US tank, then an invading Islamic State militia forced him to abandon his monastery in northern Iraq. Raeed, a monk from Qaraqosh – Iraq’s largest Christian town – had to flee and set up a temporary monastery in a displacement camp in Erbil. . . . Read More

When Mosul is freed, Christians may face a new crisis

September 23, 2016 Iraq Islamic State, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Refugees

The eventual liberation of Mosul, Iraq, from the so-called Islamic State will end one crisis for dislocated Christians only to create a new one, a religious-freedom expert says. Planning documents drawn up by the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government anticipate that driving IS out of Iraq’s second city will create a . . . Read More

Kurds ‘expel Christians’ in Hassaka

September 23, 2016 Syria Aleppo, Churches, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kurds, Qamishli, Syria

Christians are being targeted as Kurdish militia assert their control in Syria’s north-eastern city of Hassaka, a senior local Christian leader has said. “Whenever the Kurdish militia enter in action to reaffirm its military hegemony over the city, the epicentre of their raids and acts of force is always the . . . Read More

‘Face of displaced Iraqi Christians’ is ordained

September 22, 2016 Iraq Ankawa, Baghdad, Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Louis Raphael I Sako, Nineveh Plains

The ordination of Martin Baani, a Catholic priest who became one of the when he dedicated himself to the needs of thousands of people in displacement camps, has been celebrated as a revival of Christianity in the Middle East, reports . Louis Sako, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, who performed . . . Read More

What does the inside of a refugee camp in Lebanon look like?

September 20, 2016 Lebanon IDPs, Islamic State, Lebanon, Migrants, Refugees, UN

A Syrian family outside their makeshift tent in a Lebanese refugee camp, August 2016

WWM

One in every 113 people on earth is a refugee, according to UN figures; yesterday at its General Assembly in the US, it adopted the New York Declaration aimed at reaching a more humane and coordinated approach to large movements of refugees and migrants. At the meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban . . . Read More

Freedom of religion or belief ‘the defining issue of our time’

September 16, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, Boko Haram, Canada, Copts, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Kandhamal, Myanmar, New York, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi, Syria

Over 100 parliamentarians from 60 countries met this week in Berlin for a series of workshops and seminars under the title, “An Embattled Right: Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion of Belief”. The second conference of this size after last year’s meeting in New York, it was organised by the . . . Read More

Autonomous Nineveh ‘would preserve Christians and secure West’s interests’

September 14, 2016 Iraq Ankawa, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains

A “protected area” should be set aside for minorities, including Christians, in Iraq’s north-east Nineveh plains after the ‘Islamic State’ has been defeated, a US advocacy group has argued. The group, In Defense of Christians (IDC), made the suggestion at the National Convention (7-9 September) in Washington DC. IDC hopes . . . Read More

‘Part of our heart is missing’: parents of girl held by IS

September 9, 2016 Iraq Christina Abada, Islamic State, Qaraqosh, Trauma

Ayda relives that most horrible moment daily, even though it took place two years ago. During a ‘medical check-up’ in the north-eastern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, militants from the ‘Islamic State’ took interest in her three-year-old daughter, Christina. Suddenly, they snatched the child out of her arms and gave the crying . . . Read More

Only 0.5% Syrian refugees now in US are Christian

September 7, 2016 Syria Iraq, Islamic State, Lebanon, Refugees, Syria, USA

Christians were a meagre half-percent of the Syrian refugees welcomed to the United States in 2016, according to a report researched by Fox News. The figure, representing a minority group Washington has already described as subject to genocide, contrasts sharply with last year’s estimated 10% Christian population of Syria. Since . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye