Tag: Syria

ISIS loses Syrian town with Christian legacy

April 5, 2016 Syria Homs, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Syria

The Syrian government has claimed victory over the Islamic State in Qaryatain, a Syrian town with a notable Christian presence. “Army units, backed by the Syrian and Russian Air Forces, restored security to Qaryatain and the farms surrounding it in south-eastern Homs,” . Islamic State’s apparent loss of Qaryatain comes . . . Read More

Assyrian Christian girl released in Syria

March 29, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Qaryatain, Syria

An Assyrian Christian girl taken hostage 13 months ago by Islamic State (IS) militants in northeast Syria‘s Hasakah province has been set free after “intense negotiations” for her release. Miriam David Talya, who had been captured with more than 250 other Khabur villagers in Feb. 2015, arrived in Tel Tamar . . . Read More

US declares ISIS campaign ‘genocide’

March 17, 2016 Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Syria, USA

The US government has declared that Islamic State has committed genocide against Christians and other religious groups. Secretary of State John Kerry said on behalf of the government that Islamic State was “genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by actions”. It follows the declaring atrocities committed by ISIS in Iraq . . . Read More

Enterprising Christians see hope, despite Syria’s five years of war

March 15, 2016 Syria Civil War, Damascus, IDPs, Refugees, Syria

Of an estimated population of 17 million in Syria, 11 million have either left the country or been internally displaced by the civil war which ‘officially’ enters its 5th year today, 15th March. This was when protests began in Deraa, which quickly led to the spiral down into civil war. . . . Read More

US lawmakers accuse IS of genocide

March 15, 2016 Barack Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Syria, USA, Yazidis

The U.S. House of Representatives has joined the growing number of voices in Western capitals accusing the so-called Islamic State of genocide. In a 393-0 vote 14 March, the House declared “the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute . . . Read More

Syrian Christians favour Assad to bring peace

February 23, 2016 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Islamic State, Syria

Supporting President Assad may be the only hope of Christians surviving during and after Syria’s civil war, writes John Pontifex for . On a recent trip to Syria for Aid to the Church in Need, he found Christians considered it better to support the current leadership than face the threat . . . Read More

Islamic State releases 43 Assyrian hostages

February 22, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

The so-called Islamic State has released 43 Assyrian Christians – the remaining hostages of the . The group is on its way to Tel Tamr, a town close to the villages they were abducted from, according to Younan Talia of the Assyrian Democratic Organization. Talia said the release came after . . . Read More

Italy takes 1,000 refugees via humanitarian visas

February 9, 2016 Ethiopia, Europe, Italy, Lebanon, Migrants, Morocco, North Africa, Refugees, Syria

Italian Protestant churches will help settle 1,000 refugees arriving there this month through a “humanitarian corridor” from camps in Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia. The refugees, including both Christians and Muslims, will travel under the safety of humanitarian visas so they are not tempted to risk deadly sea crossings to Europe. . . . Read More

Fierce battles in southeast Turkey hedge in Christians

February 1, 2016 Turkey Assyrians, Diyarbakir, PKK, Syria

The 1,700-year-old Virgin Mary Syriac Orthodox Church, Diyarbakir, Turkey has been damaged in fighting between government forces and Kurdish separatists.World Watch Monitor One of the oldest churches in the world sustained damage last week in the intensified fighting between the Turkish government and Kurdish separatists. Rocket-propelled grenades destroyed a . . . 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

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