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After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the ruined mosque at the heart of Islamic State's de facto capital Mosul, and the prime minister declared the group's self-styled caliphate at an end. Iraqi authorities expect the long battle for Mosul to end in coming days as remaining Islamic State fighters are bottled up in just a handful of neighborhoods of the Old City. The seizure of the nearly 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque -- from where Islamic State proclaimed the caliphate nearly three years ago to the day -- is a huge symbolic victory. "The...

MOSUL — On Sunday, the sound of the bells ringing at Mar Touma Church in Mosul, Iraq, marked a significant milestone in the city’s recovery from the devastation caused by the Islamic State (ISIS). Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Mar Benedict Younan Hanno presided over the Divine Liturgy for the inauguration of the rebuilt church, assisted by Father Yasser Atallah and Father Mazen Mutoka. Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul and Kerkeslokh (Kirkuk) Mar Nicodemus Daoud Matta Sharaf, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul and Akre Michael Naguib, Chaldean Archbishop of the Diocese of Mosul and Akre, and French Consul General in Nineveh...

MOSUL, Iraq — On Wednesday, new bells were raised over the Church of the Dominican Convent (Our Lady of the Hour), also known as the Clock Church or Latin Church, in Mosul, Iraq, during restoration work carried out by a team from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Dominican Order. The church bells had been removed and melted down by the Islamic State (ISIS), which had converted the church into a detention center for ISIS opponents during its control of Mosul. The new bells were sent from Normandy in France. Meanwhile, the media office of...

The image, a still taken from a four-second video clip captured April 16, 2016, by a reconnaissance aircraft in northern Iraq, was shared by UFO researcher Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell and journalist George Knapp on the first episode of their new podcast “Weaponized” on Tuesday. “It is a military-filmed image, an intelligence agency-filmed image, and it’s called the Mosul orb,” Corbell said, noting the object was named after the Iraqi city where it was spotted. In the video, the metallic-colored sphere seemingly moved alongside the spy plane without dropping in altitude, Corbell said. “This is in the UFO category within...

Archaeologists in northern Iraq, working on the Mashki and Adad gate sites in Mosul that were destroyed by Islamic State in 2016, recently uncovered 2,700-year-old Assyrian reliefs. Featuring war scenes and trees, these rock carvings add to the bounty of detailed stone panels excavated from the 1840s onwards, many of which are currently held in the British Museum. They stem from the ancient city of Nineveh which, for a time, was likely the most dazzling in the world. There is evidence of occupation at the site already by 3,000 BC, an era known as the late Uruk period. But it...

CNA Newsroom, Nov 15, 2022 / 08:25 am A church bell that was kept hidden by a Muslim family during the Islamic State’s occupation of Mosul rang out above St. Paul’s Chaldean Catholic Cathedral on Sunday for the first time in eight years. Christians from across Iraq’s Nineveh Plain came to the cathedral to participate in the bell-ringing ceremony and Divine Liturgy on Nov. 13. Archbishop Najeeb Michaeel, OP, the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul and Akra, led a procession to the grotto of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of Mosul, in the church courtyard before ceremoniously ringing the bell. The...

A discovery of historical and religious value, confirming the Christianity's connection to Iraq. In six stone containers ancient relics and parchments with references to saints, from Simon to St John. Smuggling of antiquities is back on the agenda, Briton sentenced to 15 years. Baghdad (AsiaNews) - A discovery of great historical, religious and cultural value that confirms - once again - the bond of Christians with Iraq and, more generally, with the Middle Eastern region of which they are the original people and an integral component since the first centuries. Over the past few days, a dozen or so ancient...

'Saddam's deputy' in anti-US call The US blames Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri for attacks on its troops A message purported to be from the fugitive deputy of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has called on insurgents to make a final push against US forces. The message attributed to Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri urged Iraqi fighters to "make this year... decisive for victory". The message also called on US President George W Bush to "come clean about the scale of US losses". Ibrahim is the most senior member of Saddam Hussein's regime still at large. The message, aired by Dubai-based satellite broadcaster...

He put the fat in fatwa. A morbidly obese ISIS fanatic dubbed “Jabba the Jihadi” has been captured by Iraqi forces — who loaded him onto a flatbed truck because he couldn’t fit in a police car. The 560-pound mufti Abu Abdul Bari, also known as Shifa al-Nima, was nabbed Thursday by an elite SWAT team of the Nineveh regiment in the city of Mosul, according to Stars and Stripes.

The first clearance of rubble and explosives around the Al Tahera Catholic Church in Mosul has been completed paving the way for reconstruction to begin, the UN’s cultural agency said on Thursday. The church was severely damaged by ISIS during the bloody internationally-backed Iraqi government battle to wrest the northern Iraqi city back from the militants. Launched under the Reviving the Spirit of Mosul programme that aims to restore the shattered city, the agency aims to rebuild Mosul’s historic landmarks. The reconstruction of the Al Tahera Church as well as several other religious sites – including the famous Al...

UNESCO Reconstruction begins on Mosul's Al-Tahera Syriac-Catholic Church by Anup Oommen14 Sep 2020 Reconstruction and rehabilitation works have begun on Iraq’s Al-Tahera Church in the Old City of Mosul in close coordination with the UAE and local authorities.Phase 1 of the project, which included clearing the rubble and securing the project site for reconstruction, has been completed, according to the UNESCO authorities. The reconstruction works will be quite complex, as large parts of the structure’s arcades and its external walls have been damaged. Local contractors, under the supervision of skilled experts, have been chosen to do the work. In addition,...

Rehabilitation works will include the church’s arcades, external walls, the annexed cloister, a dining room, and sacristy rooms Reconstruction and rehabilitation works have begun on Iraq’s Al-Tahera Church in the Old City of Mosul in close coordination with the UAE and local authorities. Phase 1 of the project, which included clearing the rubble and securing the project site for reconstruction, has been completed, according to the UNESCO authorities. The reconstruction works will be quite complex, as large parts of the structure’s arcades and its external walls have been damaged. Local contractors, under the supervision of skilled experts, have been chosen...

Mosul, Iraq, Oct 22, 2019 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- The United Arab Emirates is partnering with UNESCO to rebuild two Catholic churches in Mosul that were destroyed in 2014 by the Islamic State. The initiative will help rebuild Al-Tahera Church and Al-Saa'a Church. “Today’s signing is a pioneering partnership that sends a message of light, in seemingly darker times,” Noura Al Kaabi, UAE Minister for Culture and Knowledge Development, said Oct. 10. “By rebuilding a fraction of the past, Iraq can shape its future as an inclusive, tolerant and open society which has always found a tangible manifestation in Mosul’s...

A family, who wants their identity protected, hid for three years two books containing Syriac Orthodox rituals. The head of the family recently entrusted them to a former Christian neighbour, with whom they have been friends for years. For Chaldean priest, many Muslims view Christians as brothers and are ready to risk their lives for a book.Mosul (AsiaNews) – A Muslim family hid for three years two ancient Syriac Orthodox books in Mosul during the city’s occupation by the Islamic State (IS) group to prevent their destruction at the latter’s hands. They did so, putting their own lives at risk....

Fr. Paul describes Christmas celebrations in the former stronghold of the Islamic State. Liturgies on the Nineveh plain "crowded and vibrant". A new Archbishop in Mosul to rebuild the community, on a pastoral and social level. Christians and Muslims against obscurantism, ask for "dialogue and modernity".Mosul (AsiaNews) - If 2014 was "the black year" with the flight of the bishop, priests and faithful following the rise of the Islamic State (IS, ex Isis), then 2019 will be the year "of our rebirth, of pastoral and social challenges, of the return of the refugees," says Fr. Paul Thabit Mekko, the head...

Months after Isis was forced out and tired of waiting for government action, volunteers have begun the urgent job of rebuilding Iraq’s citiesEven if we work every day for the next six months, we still won’t finish this job – we don’t have enough support or equipment,” says Muhammed Shaban, an officer of the Civil Defence Force in west Mosul, in the exhausted tone of someone who is unable to separate his life from his work. Shaban and his colleagues were recovering as many as 30 bodies a day in August last year, one month after the fighting ceased. More...

LEMONS, GRAPEFRUITS, oranges and figs grow in abundance in the three gardens of Nadia Younis Butti’s house in Mosul, the house her parents built from scratch. She used to enjoy the lush trees and alluring fruits, sitting in her rocking chair near the flourishing, scented bushes. On July 17, 2014, however, Nadia had to leave Mosul, because ISIS had captured Iraq’s second-largest city. “With pain in my heart I left,” she says. ISIS has been ousted from Mosul and Nadia, who belongs to the Assyrian Church, recently returned to visit the city of her birth. “It is still extremely dangerous...

Candle lights, fragrant of incense and sounds of bells brought back to life in the Chaldean Church of St. Paul in Mosul (Almajmoua’ Althaqafyia suburb). The Eucharist, symbol of the New Testament for the salvation of all mankind is back again on the altar. All this happened on Sunday, 24 December 2017, when His Beatitude the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako celebrated the mass in participation of the Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the Archbishop of Mosul of Syriac Catholics, Putros Moshi and the Archbishop of Mosul of Syriac Orthodox, Nicademos Sharaf, in addition to some priests. Among them Fr....

Fr Samir describes an atmosphere of joy and hope, despite the lack of resources and less aid. The struggle for survival has boosted the bond between Christians, Muslims, and Yazidis. About 150 refugee families are still living at the centre, 70 per cent depending on resources provided by the Church. Hundreds of young people attend the prayer meeting in preparation for Christmas.Erbil (AsiaNews) – Despite hardships, "a climate of joy and hope" can be felt among the refugees from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, still hosted at the reception centre of the parish of Enishke, in Iraqi Kurdistan, said Fr...

When the extremist group known as the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) was expelled from the northern city of Mosul, locals there were happy. But now, not so much, says Qassim Badran, a former employee of the local power department. The government stopped paying his salary back in 2014 when the Islamic State, or IS, group, took over the city. Even though the federal government said they would start paying civil servants again—and there are many of these because the Iraqi government is the country’s major employer—no money has arrived for Badran and he’s been busy setting up a small...