Tag: Islamic State

EU puts ‘genocide’ tag on Islamic State

February 4, 2016 David Cameron, Genocide, Hilary Clinton, Islamic State, UN

The European Parliament has declared the violent campaign by the so-called Islamic State against Christians and other religious minorities to be genocide. “Daesh commits genocide,” according to the resolution passed 4 Feb. by a show of hands from representatives of the 28-nation European Union. Daesh is an English representation of . . . Read More

Islamic State releases more Christian hostages

February 1, 2016 Syria Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Middle East, Qaryatain, Syria

Islamic State released 22 Assyrian hostages – mainly women and children – in Syria over the weekend. Sixteen of them were from the in Hasakah province in February 2015. The other six hostages released were taken in August from Qaryatain. Islamic State is still holding 73 of the 253 original hostages. There have . . . Read More

Vatican: Peace talks must consider Christian needs

January 27, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Civil War, Islamic State, Syria, UN, Yazidis

The Geneva peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian civil war must “take into consideration” the needs of Christians, . The talks – due to start on 29 Jan. and last for six months – are aimed at finding a political solution to the on-going Syrian crisis. The UN said the first . . . Read More

IS’s finances lead to auction of Christian homes

January 21, 2016 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

Islamic State has started to auction Christian properties that it seized in Mosul to ease its deepening financial crisis, according to Arabic media. Its jihadis went on patrol in Iraq’s second largest city, announcing the sale of over 400 homes, 19 commercial buildings and 167 shops, stores and garages, several . . . Read More

Oldest Christian monastery in Iraq destroyed

January 20, 2016 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul

Satellite images have confirmed that the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been destroyed, . It is thought that St. Elijah’s, which stood on a hill near Mosul and was constructed 1400 years ago, was destroyed in the summer of 2014, shortly after the area was taken over by the . . . Read More

Iraqis who fled Mosul and IS flee Turkish bombing

January 19, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Louis Raphael I Sako, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, PKK, Saddam Hussein, Turkey

The Turkish air force has bombed the Assyro-Chaldean Christian village of Upper Sharanish in northern Iraq. Condemning what he called the “unjust act”, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako urged Ankara to “respect the lives and properties of the inhabitants and not to displace them under the pretext of fighting” the Kurdish . . . Read More

16 more Assyrian hostages freed

January 14, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

Another 16 Assyrian Christian hostages of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, abducted 10 months ago, have been released, The were among 230 people abducted nearly a year ago when IS raided dozens of villages in northern Syria. Middle East Concern said “many months” of negotiations involving church representatives have resulted in . . . Read More

2016 World Watch List drawn from world headlines

January 13, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Bibles, BJP, Boko Haram, Central Asia, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kenya, Libya, Middle East, Mosul, Niger, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, North Korea, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months, from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea is . . . Read More

IS allegiance reported in Philippines

January 11, 2016 Philippines Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro, Islamic State, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines, Zamboanga

A video has emerged showing the leader of Abu Sayyaf (a militant Islamist group based around the islands of and in south-western Philippines) swearing allegiance to the leader of Islamic State, reports Rappler, a digital news website based in the Philippines. The Abu Sayyaf leader is shown marching with other extremist . . . Read More

Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ shrank 14% in 2015

January 6, 2016 Afghanistan, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Ramadi, Raqqa, Syria, Turkey, USA

Islamic State’s self-proclaimed ‘caliphate’ – the area within Syria and Iraq that the group controls – shrunk by more than 12,000 square kilometres in 2015, says . The loss of 14 per cent of its territory reduces the caliphate to 78,000 square kilometres. Main losses are large swathes of Syria . . . Read More

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