Monthly Archives: December 2017

By Dima Abumaria | The Media Line Christmas in Bethlehem (courtesy) The holiday offers little escape throughout the region and has been politicized in the Palestinian territories…

Syrians gather around a Christmas tree in Aleppo’s government-controlled Aziziyah neighborhood on Dec. 31, 2016. The Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which led to the United States being scolded by 128 countries at the UN General…

REUTERS/Suhaib Salem Iraqi boys visit the burned out main church as others attend the first Palm Sunday procession in the Christian city of Qaraqosh since Iraqi forces retook it from Islamic State militants, Iraq, April 9, 2017.…

Iraqi Christians gathered in Saint Paul’s Cathedral in eastern Mosul on December 24 for Christmas Eve celebrations, marking the community’s first Christmas at home in the three years since the city had been overrun by the Islamic State. Similar celebrations were held in nearby historic Christian communities in the Hamdania…

Daoud Kuttab | AMMAN: Christian refugees from the conflict in Syria may feel that the Christmas spirit is in short supply this year, but Jordanians have gone out of their way to ensure that it is alive and well. “We host events from dinners, to food distribution, to Santa Claus gift giving for…

By Hollie McKay | Fox News Christians who have called northern Iraq their homeland since the first century are recovering from ISIS’ carnage only to face an emerging threat that they fear could be just as challenging: the growing influence from Iran. That influence comes in an array of shapes and forms, and even an…

By Gilgamesh Nabeel and Jacob Christmas overlooking Prophet Jonah’s Hill in East Mosul, Iraq. (Photo: Martin Banni) In Mosul, the holiday is back for the first time since 2014 [EAST MOSUL, IRAQ] Just one year ago Mosul was the seat of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in Iraq.…

Louise Callaghan, Midyat A Syriac priest celebrates mass at a church in Midyat The air was rich with incense, and the chanting swelled as black-robed monks filed into the fourth century Mor Gabriel church, crossing themselves. A group of boys stood…

Giovial Maslob, teacher, speaks of the years of exile and the return home and to his place of birth. KARAMLES: “This Christmas represents a new beginning for us. Of course, places and people can change, but the true and deep meaning of the celebration remains the…

Residents of Qaraqosh take comfort from celebrations as they struggle to rebuild lives in Iraqi town held by extremists for three years Louis Khno with his granddaughters Alina, left, and Angelina at his home in Qaraqosh, Iraq, on December 20, 2017. Campbell MacDiarmid…

By Rudaw 9 hours ago A Christian woman displaced from Tel Kayf in Nineveh province decorated a Christmas tree in a refugee camp located in Duhok province, Kurdistan Region. Photo: Rudaw TV DUHOK, Kurdistan Region – Tens of thousands of Christians who remain displaced…

Chris Mitchell Mosul Destruction, Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff The last major stand for ISIS in Iraq came in the place where the Islamic State declared its caliphate more than three years ago, Mosul. CBN News recently got an exclusive look at the city that was once Iraq’s second largest and the epicenter of the…

by Ludwik Donimirski Some will celebrate Christmas in hometown for first time since ISIS invasion Contact: Joseph Cullen, 203-800-4923, joseph.cullen@kofc.org; Andrew Walther, 203-824-5412, andrew.walther@kofc.org; both with Knights of Columbus…

A member of the six-person team from the Roj Mine Control Organisation walks outside the heavily-damaged Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs in the city centre of the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa, on Dec 20, 2017. RAQQA (AFP) – Two historic churches in Syria’s Raqqa will be declared free of…

by Madeleine Davies Room in the Middle East? People dressed as Mary and Joseph gather outside Parliament to deliver a petition, organised by Open Doors, calling for better protection of the human rights of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria…

Prince Charles, Melkite, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Charles at St Barnabas’ church with group including Bishop Angaelos, Archbishop Athanasius, Fr Aphrem, Canon Robin Gibbons By: Father Shafiq Abouzayd, Jo Siedlecka…

Above, Immaculate Conception Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Qaraquosh will hold Christmas celebrations, despite its damaged interior. Below, a view of ruined homes in Qaraqosh as Yohanna Towaya stands in front of his parents’ home. (Courtesy of Yohanna Towaya)…

By Samuel Smith , CP Reporter (Photo:Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)Displaced Iraq Christians who fled from Islamic State militants in Mosul, pray at a school acting as a refugee camp in Erbil, Iraq, September 6, 2014.…

Laura Reinhardt/World Vision Pastor Miled and Fatima, a Syrian refugee, walk through a refugee settlement in Lebanon. The two formed a close bond after Fatima was forced to flee her home due to the Syrian conflict.…

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press BAGHDAD — As Iraq emerges from more than three years of war with the Islamic State group, battling an extremist “mentality” will be the key to peaceful coexistence among the country’s religious and ethnic groups, the top Chaldean Catholic Church official tells The Associated Press.…