Free Republic

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...

Father Luis Montes, a priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, celebrated Mass earlier this month at St. George Monastery.MOSUL, Iraq — Following the liberation of Mosul, Iraq, from the hands of the Islamic State, Christians are cautiously returning to the city. And as they return, so does the Mass. Father Luis Montes, a priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, celebrated Mass earlier this month at St. George Monastery. The priest traveled to Mosul to record part of a documentary entitled Guardianes de la Fe (Guardians of the Faith), which seeks to show the reality of life...

“Today, Mosul is completely distroyed,” reports the city’s Syriac-Catholic Bishop Petros Mouche. “Everything needs to be rebuilt.” Visiting the Iraqi city, which was recently liberated from the Islamic State, the bishop told Aid to the Church in Need that it would be “a few years” before families could resume living in Mosul itself. For now, he said, some refugees have returned to see the condition of their old homes, but “one cannot permanently stay in Mosul.” “However, many people can return to the Nineveh Plains,” the bishop said. About 600 families have resettled in that area, finding work and rebuilding...

After the Iraqi army regained control of the city of Mosul, "La Croix" spoke to Faraj Benoît Camurat, president of the Brotherhood with Iraq organization. On Sunday July 9, the Iraqi army regained control of almost the entire city of Mosul, which has been an ISIS stronghold for over three years. Faraj Benoît Camurat, president of Fraternité en Irak (Brotherhood with Iraq), explains that “this liberation may encourage Christian refugee families who fled the town to return” but that they still fear the presence of “dormant jihadist groups". Brotherhood with Iraq is a French NGO which aims to support Iraqi...

Iraq's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, called the destruction of the mosque an "official declaration of defeat" by IS. ...The explosions happened as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got within 50 metres of the mosque, the statement said. ...Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph," or ruler of all Muslims, from the pulpit of the mosque on 4 July 2014, after the group's fighters overran parts of Iraq and Syria.

Kawa Omar and Ahmed Rasheed | MOSUL/BAGHDAD, IRAQ The leaning al-Hadba minaret that towered over Mosul for 850 years lay in ruins on Thursday, demolished by retreating Islamic State militants, but Iraq's prime minister said the act marked their final defeat in the city. "In the early morning, I climbed up to the roof of my house and was stunned to see the Hadba minaret had gone," Nashwan, a day-laborer who lives near the mosque, said by phone. "I felt I had lost a son of mine." His words echoed the shock and anger of many over the destruction of...

ISIS has blown up the iconic mosque where it announced its own so called caliphate in 2014, an Iraqi officer has said. The terror's group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance on the balcony of the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul that year. Iraq's Joint Operation Command today released a satellite image showing the mosque lying in rubble.

Mosul, Iraq, Jun 5, 2017 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- As government forces pry apart the Islamic State's three yearlong grip on Mosul, Muslims and Christians have united to rebuild a damaged monastery. A Facebook page called “This is Christian Iraq” – dedicated to connecting Iraqi Christians and maintaining the faith amid ISIS threat – recently posted a series of photos showing the joint effort. The May 27 post said that young Muslims from the northern neighborhood joined Christians at the Monastery of Saint George, participating in cleaning and repairs. The monastery belongs to the Chaldean Catholic tradition, an Eastern Catholic...

The number of Christians in Iraq has decreased from 1.5 million 15 years ago to a couple of hundred thousand today. As the battle of Mosul comes to an end and Islamic State (ISIS) about to be defeated in Iraq, rapid action from the international community needs to be taken to safeguard the existence of Christians in the country. This is their last stand. The battle of Mosul, Iraq’s second city, is in its final stages. Predictions are that the city might be fully liberated before the end of Ramadan. While, due to a decade of persecution of “infidels” in...

Investigators are currently gathering evidence, hoping to prosecute IS figures for war crimes and genocide Yazidi Layla Taloo was owned by eight men and suffered a two and a half year ordeal being held in captivity 49 IS figures who built and managed the slave trade and nearly 170 slave owners have been identified so far

The impoverished Yazidi community survived ISIS genocidal attacks but has been targeted repeatedly by Turkey since 2017. Turkey again carried out a targeted assassination of Yazidi members of a far-left group in Sinjar in northern Iraq on Wednesday, according to local reports. It is one of several airstrikes Turkey has carried out in the area where members of the Yazidi minority live.  The impoverished Yazidi community survived ISIS genocidal attacks but have now been targeted repeatedly by Turkey since 2017, including a Turkish invasion of Afrin in 2018 that led to ethnic-cleansing of Yazidi villages and a Turkish attack with...

Iraqi human rights activist Nadia Murad met with President Trump at the White House on Friday where she pleaded for the president to help her and others in her community return to their home country. Murad, who won a Nobel Peace Prize last year after opening up about her story of surviving sexual assault while in ISIS captivity in 2014, told Trump that much of her family remains in jail because “when ISIS attack us, no one protect us.” “I’m from Iraq and I cannot see my family,” she told the president in the Oval Office. “After 2003, we started...

3,000 Yazidi sex slaves missing and feared dead 3000 Yazidi sex slaves are lost and feared dead. This story should be in headlines everywhere. Is it? Are the lives of Yazidi girls and women so valueless in the eyes of the Western media? Add to that the fact that thousands of other Yazidi sex slaves who were tortured and murdered. Where also are the human rights activists? Why do they ignore these victims of jihad terror and abuse? “LOST FOREVER ISIS’ 3,000 Yazidi sex slaves feared dead as hopes of finding any of them alive fade with collapse of evil...

GERSHIN, Iraq — A group of Yazidi women and children reunited with their families in Iraq Saturday after five years of captivity at the hands of the Islamic State group, hugging and kissing relatives in emotional scenes that underscored their yearslong ordeal and that of their devastated community. Elated families met their loved ones at a rural truck stop on the road between Sinjar and Dohuk, tossing candy in the air like confetti, the women ululating with joy. The 18 returning children, aged 10 to 15, appeared weary and at times uneasy with the attention of the media and officials....

OSLO (AFP) - Yazidi activist Nadia Murad, a survivor of sex slavery by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), implored the global community to help free hundreds of women and girls still held by the militants in her Nobel acceptance speech on Monday (Dec 10), saying the world must protect her people. "The protection of the Yazidis and all vulnerable communities around the world is the responsibility of the international community," Ms Murad told the ceremony in Oslo.The 25-year-old shares the Nobel Peace Prize with Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, who has spent more than two decades treating appalling...

The Nobel Peace Prize on Friday was awarded to a Congolese doctor and a Yazidi former captive of the Islamic State group for their work to highlight and eliminate the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad “have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on, and combating, such war crimes,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its announcement. “Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life to defending these victims. Nadia Murad is the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and other.” Mukwege has treated thousands of...

Evangelical leaders have responded to the New York Times' claim that the Trump administration is undermining its own priority of protecting religious freedom by emphasizing the policy priorities of evangelical Christians. On Saturday, The New York Times editorial board published an opinion piece titled "A Too-Narrow Vision of Religious Freedom." The piece essentially argues that although "the Trump administration embraces a laudable desire to expand religious tolerance" across the globe, it is the administration's "own intolerance toward some" that "undermines the message." For examples of intolerance, NYT mentions "Trump's disgraceful attempts to ban Muslims from some countries from entering the...

American evangelicals and human rights advocates are encouraging the United States to pressure Turkey to release American missionary Andrew Brunson, who faces ridiculous allegations of complicity in Kurdish terrorism. Are they right to do so, even if the price is estrangement with a key NATO member and harm to US regional interests? How should Christians in their political witness balance Christian causes versus the wider national good? The president, vice president and secretary of state have all denounced Turkey's imprisonment of Brunson. Economic sanctions have been levied against Turkish products, and personal sanctions have targeted two Turkish officials. Congress has...

By Jeff Gardner -Last August, Joseph received the news he had feared for weeks: The armies of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, had invaded the region of Sinjar in western Iraq, the place where he and tens of thousands of Yezidis had lived for centuries. When Joseph got word that ISIS fighters were headed towards his home village of Tillqasab, he panicked — although he had left years ago, his elderly father still lived in the village. Arriving at the outskirts of town, Joseph realized that he was too late — Tillqasab had already fallen...