Eliza Griswold has penned a compelling dispatch to the New York Times Magazine that reads, in one sitting, like World Watch Monitor’s past year of coverage of Iraq’s Christians. The 26 July article provides a concise summary of the complex and often contradictory political currents that complicate attempts to preserve a Christian presence in the Middle East.

Griswold also relates further detail about the story of Christina Abada, the now-4-year-old girl snatched from the arms of her mother, Ayda, nearly a year ago by militants of the so-called Islamic State as they took over the town of Qaraqosh. According to snips of information emerging from underground sources, the author says Christina is being raised by a Muslim family.