Monthly Archives: September 2014

Islamic State: Jihadists destroying and looting Iraqi heritage sites for artefacts, UNESCO warns Outside the Nabi Yunus shrine in Mosul, Iraq Photo: The Nabi Yunus shrine, revered by both Muslims and Christians as the birthplace of Prophet Jonah, was attacked by IS in July. (WikiCommons: Roland Unger)…

By TAMARA AUDI Sept. 29, 2014 8:48 p.m. ET Fadwa Rabban stayed in Baghdad after the 2003 U.S. invasion, and after her husband died in 2005. She stayed after a nearby blast blew out the windows of her home, and after friends and relatives left as Christians like herself increasingly became the target…

by ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI/CNA/EWTN NEWS – CNA/www.ankawa.com Refugees who have fled from ISIS and arrived in Ankawa, in the northern part of Erbil, Iraq. Cardinal Fernando Filoni gave Pope Francis a firsthand account of the desperate plight of a populace uprooted by Muslim radicals.…

By Oliver Maksan “We Christians in the Middle East will have a future if the family of nations stand up for their principles, such as democracy and freedom, and especially religious freedom. Then we will be able to live in civilised countries. But this will take time.” With these…

“Tarek,” a refugee in Lebanon waiting to be resettled in Canada, is being hunted by family because he has converted to Christianity Tarek, who has been living in Lebanon for more than a year, fears for his life because, he says, his father and brother have threatened to kill him for converting from Islam to…

BURHAN OZBILICI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESSKurds from Turkey (right) and Syria break down the barbed wire Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, at the border near Suruc, Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that a “no-fly zone” should be created in Syria to protect part of it from attacks by Syria’s air force.…

Christian, Yazidi and other refugees in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq who fled Islamic State terrorists now face a freezing winter with temperatures of 35 to 55 degrees and few resources to sustain them.…

Vinnie Rotondaro Washington What does it mean to defend Christians in the Middle East? What does it mean to maintain their presence in the Holy Land? As many minority Christians in the region — already buffeted by decades of social…

Damascus, Prayers for peace in Syria were held on Friday at the St. Anthony Cathedral, the headquarters of the Maronite Patriarchate of Damascus, in Bab Touma. The prayers were held under the patronage of Archbishop Samir Nassar, the ehad of the Maronite Patriarchate of Damascus, and presided upon by Father Gabriel Ghanem…

Are the Israeli Christians part of the ancient Aramean people rather than Arabs? Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at… One of the last things Israel’s Interior Minister Gideon Saar did before resigning from the Knesset was to recognize the Israeli Christians as members of the Aramean nation. The…

by Frances BBC Arabic reports that the terrorists of the Islamic State, in full control of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, have destroyed two of its most ancient religious sites: the 1300-year-old Assyrian Green Church and the ancient Forty Shrine mosque.…

By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, CNN Antakya, Turkey (CNN) — More than 20 Syrian rebel commanders, including members of Christian opposition groups, have signed off on what they called a historic agreement to unite in the fight against ISIS and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.…

The Assyrian Green Church, one of the oldest and most beautiful religious sites in Iraq, was destroyed on Wednesday [24 September 2014]. Islamic State (IS) militants are heavily suspected to be responsible for its destruction as part of their horrific campaign to eradicate Assyrian history, culture and identity from Northern Iraq.…

For the past four months, the Australia Chapter of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) has communicated closely with high officials of the Australian government Authorities regarding the violent attacks in Iraq by the terrorist group called ISIL, the AUA delegation met with The Hon. Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs two times…

By James Reinl Bishop Sarhad. Photo by author. NEW YORK — Christians should not be kept out of Iraq’s inclusive political process and can help ease tensions between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, Chaldean Bishop Sarhad Yawsip Jammo told Rudaw.…

Ground will be broken this week on a $3 million Chaldean community center in Sterling Heights. The 11,500-square-foot project of the Chaldean Community Foundation will replace a 2,400-square-foot building nearby and offer social services to Chaldean refugees, most…

There’s more than half a million Christians in Iraq today — two thirds of them are Chaldean Catholics — a Christian group affiliated with Rome, but practicing its own Eastern rites. The group is under attack by the militant Islamic State, bombing Chaldean churches, attacking monasteries, and chasing Chaldeans from their ancestral land.…

NNA – Lebanese Army Chief, General Jean Qahwaji, on Tuesday met at his office in Yarze with Syriac Catholic Patriarch Mar Ignatius Younane, and the accompanying delegation. He later met with Head of the Independence Movement, Michel Mouawwad, over the…

By James Reinl Chaldean Christian refugees in Erbil, Kurdistan Region. Photo: AFP NEW YORK – A US-based group of the Chaldean Christians has called on the United States to open its doors to members of the religious minority who fled from the advancing Islamic State (IS) army in Iraq.…

ACN News, By Oliver Maksan Archbishop of Mosul: “Recognise genocide against Christians” “We Christians in Iraq have a future if the international community gives us immediate assistance. Don’t forget us.” With these words the Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis…