Tag: Islamic State

In violence-racked Baghdad, the few Christians still there struggle to cope

September 6, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Iraq, Islamic State, Ramadan

At the height of its scorching summer, Iraq saw its worst attack since the Allied Forces ousted Saddam in 2003. Some 324 people lost their lives when a van exploded in the bustling al-Karada neighbourhood of Baghdad – during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. The 3 July destruction claimed by . . . Read More

‘ISIS on a mission to exterminate Christians’

August 26, 2016 Al-Qaeda, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Idlib, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, London, Mosul, Salafism, Syria

Shiraz Maher, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, in a 2015 photo.Morten Brakestad / Stortinget / Flickr CC The so-called Islamic State will not stop until it has “exterminated” all other religious groups, according to a former Islamic extremist . . . Read More

Aleppo church helped ‘almost 2,000 Muslim refugees’

August 19, 2016 Syria Aleppo, Armenians, Greek Orthodox, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kurds, Refugees, Syria

A church in the beleaguered Syrian city of Aleppo has opened its doors to Muslims as well as Christians fleeing the war. Nearly 2,000 Muslims have benefited from the help offered by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, including by the Church of Elias the Prophet, reported Ruptly.tv, an affiliate of Russia . . . Read More

Nun editor flees Bangladesh after Islamist threats

August 12, 2016 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Islamic State

A Bangladeshi Catholic nun has fled to the United States, following repeated threats and harassment, reports . Sister Rosaline Costa, 67, followed three other members of her family in fleeing the country, after being targeted for her work as Executive Director of Hotline Human Rights Trust, and Editor of the . . . Read More

Libya ‘chaos’ makes it one of world’s most dangerous places to be a Christian

August 12, 2016 Libya Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Muammar Gaddafi

An anti-Gaddafi rally in Libya, 2011.Flickr / CC / Mojomogwai It’s five years this month since Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya was overthrown when rebels stormed his compound and he went into hiding. However, despite high hopes, the ongoing anarchy there now makes it “one of the most dangerous . . . Read More

In new report on religious freedom, US government turns its attention to blasphemy laws

August 10, 2016 Blasphemy, Boko Haram, Islamic State

The U.S. State Department on 10 Aug. released its 2015 International Religious Freedom Report. Required by U.S. law, the report contains an assessment of the conditions supporting, or suppressing, freedom of religion or belief in nearly 200 countries, excluding the United States. The annual document influences American diplomacy and assistance . . . Read More

Iraq: 2 years since Nineveh fell to IS, displaced Christians pray for ‘liberation’

August 8, 2016 Iraq Islamic State, Karamles, Kurds, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

It’s been two years since thousands of Christians fled their homes in Mosul and the Nineveh Plains to run away from the advancing armies of the so-called Islamic State. But now, as Iraqi forces plan to retake Mosul, the Christians are praying they will soon be able to return home. . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians confront two-year trauma with drama

August 5, 2016 Iraq Christina Abada, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Lebanon, Qaraqosh

Part of a play performed by Iraqi Christians forced to flee to Kurdistan after the self-proclaimed Islamic State seized their northern town of Qaraqosh.Video capture / World Watch Monitor “The streets are empty! Why are the streets empty?” The shocked actor shouts at the top of his lungs: “Qaraqosh, . . . Read More

‘We have no voice’: Christians in Jordan 2 years after fleeing N. Iraq

August 5, 2016 Iraq Genocide, Islamic State, Jordan, Lebanon, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Tel Kaif, Women

Bahar (left), 81, with her daughters, Samira and Bahija. IS beat Bahija and ransacked their home in Tel Kayf, outside Mosul. Bahar’s family shares a one-bedroomed house in Amman with another family of three, who sleep in the lounge.World Watch Monitor Bahija, 65, a housekeeper, told me she cries . . . Read More

2 years after IS drove them from their homes, Iraqi Christians ‘are still in survival mode’, bishop says

August 1, 2016 Iraq Ankawa, Assyrians, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Refugees

U.S. State Department Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken at the Washington Conference on Threats to Religious and Ethic Minorities Under ISIL, 29 July in Washington, D.C.Video capture / U.S. Office of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy Two years after being driven from their homeland by the so-called Islamic State, displaced . . . Read More

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