Tag: Erbil

Iraqi Christians ask: Where were our Kurdish protectors when IS came?

November 22, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Jordan, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Tel Kaif

A young girl in a camp in Levo, northern Iraq, holds up a picture of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. One question that still angers many of the Christians who fled northern Iraq as jihadists from Islamic State (IS) advanced on their towns and villages is, “Where were the Kurdish . . . Read More

‘Defeating IS won’t guarantee Christians’ return’

November 21, 2016 Iraq Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds

The military defeat of Islamic State (IS) will not be enough to encourage displaced Iraqi Christians back to the cities, towns and villages from which the jihadists chased them, according to a senior priest in the region. Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana, a priest in the Assyrian Church of the East and . . . Read More

6 steps to being a ‘refugee’ in your own country

November 11, 2016 Iraq Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Nineveh Plains, Refugees

Tens of thousands of Christian families were chased from their homes in north-eastern Iraq when Islamic State jihadists invaded the Nineveh Plains in summer 2014. At first they expected to return within a few days. But the days became weeks, the weeks months, and the months years. World Watch Monitor traces . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian girls, hiding under bed from IS, text priest: ‘Please come for us’

October 25, 2016 Iraq Erbil, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Mosul

“It’s a miracle. A true miracle. We prayed a lot and God answered.” The words of Iraqi Syriac-Catholic priest Ammar in the wake of last weekend’s remarkable story of seven Christian female students in Kirkuk, who hid under their beds for seven hours while soldiers from the self-proclaimed Islamic State . . . Read More

One ‘Christian’ town freed en route to Mosul

October 21, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Bartella, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

As anti-Islamic State (IS) forces continue their operations to recapture Iraq’s second city of Mosul, Christians from towns around it have welcomed the retaking of their two-years’ deserted homes. According to sources monitoring the situation on the ground, Bartella, a town with a significant Christian presence prior to the IS . . . Read More

Erdogan: ‘Only Sunni Muslims should live in Mosul’

October 7, 2016 Al-Qaeda, Ankawa, Arabs, Assyrians, Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Qatar, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Arabia, Sunni, Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared that only Sunni Muslims should be allowed to live in the second largest Iraqi city of Mosul once it has been liberated from Islamic State control. Interviewed by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on the Saudi Arabia-based TV station Rotana Khalejia on 2 Oct., . . . Read More

Survivors’ stories: life after Islamic State violence

September 28, 2016 Erbil, Iraq, Lebanon, Mosul, New York, Refugees, Syria, UN

The New York Declaration for more humane treatment of refugees, made on 19 September at the 70th UN General Assembly, will be welcomed by the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Syrians, including many Christians, living in displacement camps or with relatives, after fleeing the conflict with so-called Islamic State . . . Read More

Run over by US tank, run out of his home by IS: Iraqi monk’s own experience helps others

September 27, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

First he was run over by a US tank, then an invading Islamic State militia forced him to abandon his monastery in northern Iraq. Raeed, a monk from Qaraqosh – Iraq’s largest Christian town – had to flee and set up a temporary monastery in a displacement camp in Erbil. . . . Read More

‘Face of displaced Iraqi Christians’ is ordained

September 22, 2016 Iraq Ankawa, Baghdad, Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Louis Raphael I Sako, Nineveh Plains

The ordination of Martin Baani, a Catholic priest who became one of the when he dedicated himself to the needs of thousands of people in displacement camps, has been celebrated as a revival of Christianity in the Middle East, reports . Louis Sako, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, who performed . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians confront two-year trauma with drama

August 5, 2016 Iraq Christina Abada, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Lebanon, Qaraqosh

Part of a play performed by Iraqi Christians forced to flee to Kurdistan after the self-proclaimed Islamic State seized their northern town of Qaraqosh.Video capture / World Watch Monitor “The streets are empty! Why are the streets empty?” The shocked actor shouts at the top of his lungs: “Qaraqosh, . . . Read More

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