Tag: Syria

Bishop refutes alleged ‘revenge’ beheading

June 1, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kurds, Syria

The Catholic Bishop of Aleppo has rejected reports of the alleged “revenge” beheading of an Islamic State jihadist by an Assyrian Christian soldier in northeast Syria as “unreliable and unverifiable” rumors. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an unnamed fighter captured a non-Syrian jihadist last week . . . Read More

Kidnapped priest still missing

May 27, 2015 Syria Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Kidnapping, Qaryatain, Syria

A Jesuit priest reportedly kidnapped in Syria last week by Islamic extremists is still missing, with no news of his whereabouts. Father Jacques Mourad was abducted in Qaryatayn on 21 May by four suspected Islamic State terrorists riding motorbikes, reported Aid to the Church in Need. A spokesperson from Open . . . Read More

Syrian villages ‘liberated’ from Islamic State

May 22, 2015 Syria Iraq, Islamic State, Khabur, Kurds, Syria

All the villages along the Khabour River invaded by Islamic State miilitants three months ago have been liberated, according to reports given to the Catholic News Service (CNS). “This is very happy news,” Father Emanuel Youkhana, of Christian Aid Program Northern Iraq, told CNS. But he cautioned Christian villagers from . . . Read More

Collateral damage? 63 churches hit in Syrian civil war

May 19, 2015 Al-Nusra Front, Bashar al-Assad, Islamic State, Syria

The Syrian Network for Human Rights says 63 churches have been damaged or destroyed so far in four years of civil war.AINA Sixty-three churches have been damaged or destroyed so far during four years of civil war in Syria, says the Syrian Network for Human Rights. In a comprehensive . . . Read More

‘We are going through a terrible moment’

May 7, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Qamishli, Syria

Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana leads prayers for the Hassaka, Syria Christians at a mass in the Assyrian Church of the East in Beirut on March 22, 2015.World Watch Monitor Danger levels rose sharply in late April for northeast Syria’s isolated Assyrian Christians, caught for nearly three months now between Kurdish . . . Read More

Religious groups face extinction around world

May 4, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-balaka, Armenian Genocide, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Iraq, Kachin, Myanmar, Nigeria, Seleka, Sunni, Syria, UN

Campaigners warn that 100 years after the Armenian genocide there are still religious and ethnic groups facing extinction around the world. Groups identified include Christians in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR), and the Christian Kachin in Myanmar. Each of these countries is listed on the 2015 . . . Read More

2014: A year of particular concern

April 30, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-balaka, Bashar al-Assad, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Chibok girls, Chin, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, Kachin, Kano, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Potiskum, Rohingya, Saudi Arabia, Seleka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

If ever there were a year that made plain the importance of religious freedom, 2014 was it, according to the just-released annual report by an American government advisory group. “By any measure, the horrors of the past year speak volumes about how and why religious freedom and the protection of the . . . Read More

BBC’s Syrian refugee game criticised

April 30, 2015 Europe, Refugees, Syria, UK

An interactive game, published by the BBC showing the choices Syrians face if they choose to flee their country’s conflict, has attracted criticism despite its popularity. ‘Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route,’ has received over one million hits, according to the BBC. But the UK’s Daily Mail says the . . . Read More

Historic church destroyed in Syria

April 30, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Armenians, Churches, Islamic State, Syria

An historic Armenian church has been destroyed in Aleppo, Syria. The Armenian Church of Forty Martyrs dates back to the 15th Century. The Armenian Weekly says it is unclear whether the church was destroyed by shelling or explosives. “The church was at the centre of Armenian community life in Aleppo, . . . Read More

Syriac priest wrestles with Turkey’s ethnic tensions

April 22, 2015 Turkey Armenian Genocide, Armenians, Assyrians, Diyarbakir, Islamic State, Kurds, Mardin, Middle East, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria, Syriacs, Turkey

In the courtyard of the 1,700-year-old church over which he presides, Fr. Yusuf Akbulut beams with pride. He points out that the excellent stone and woodwork is a result of the craftsmanship of his ethnic group, the Syriac Christians of Turkey. “The Syriacs were always the goldsmiths, metal workers, stone . . . Read More

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