Tag: Mosul

Iraq’s young people must lead its rebuilding, says archbishop

March 21, 2018 Iraq Baghdad, Churches, Iraq, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Minorities, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Shia, Sunni, USA, Youth

Army truck with Iraqi flag on its way in the direction of Mosul. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The rebuilding of Iraq should be guided by its young people, says an archbishop who took in 700 students from Mosul University after the occupation of the city by Islamic State in June 2014. Bishop Yousif Thoma Mirkis of Kirkuk, 170km southeast of Mosul, recently visited the university and reunited . . . Read More

Mosul still ‘extremely dangerous’, says returning Christian woman

March 13, 2018 Iraq Assyrians, Churches, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul

Nadia Butti, a Christian woman from Mosul, found the churches of her city desecrated or demolished after returning home for the first time since the liberation of the city from the Islamic State group in July 2017, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports. She told ACN there were . . . Read More

Mass grave of Christians found in Iraq

March 6, 2018 Iraq Iraq, Mosul, Syria

A mass grave holding the remains of 40 Christians has been found in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, reports Iraqi News. Iraq’s second city was held by the Islamic State group for three years until its liberation by government forces in 2017. After capturing the city in 2014, IS . . . Read More

Mosul Christmas Mass hailed a ‘victory over IS’ as Sunni youth install giant Christmas tree

January 5, 2018 Iraq Chaldeans, Christmas, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Orthodox, Saddam Hussein, Sunni, Youth

Christmas 2017 in Iraq
The celebration of a first mass in Mossul (Mosul) since 2014. His Beatitude Raphael Sako and Bishop Shlemon Warduni (from the Chaldean Church) are presiding the Mass. Archbishops Mouche (Syriac Catholic) and Abp Nicodemus Dauod Matti Sharaf (Syriac-Orthodox) were participating. Muslim representatives were present at the celebration.

The celebration of a Christmas Eve Mass in Mosul after the city’s devastating three-year occupation by Islamic State (IS) marked “a kind of victory” over the extremists, a church leader there said. And the installation of a number of large Christmas trees around the city was unprecedented, said the leader, . . . Read More

Sweden opens church for 5,000 Christians who fled Middle East

December 15, 2017 Baghdad, Catholics, Chaldeans, Germany, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Mosul, Sweden

Evening mass at Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church in the Iraqi city of Erbil, attended by many refugees from Mosul and Nineveh Plains who fled IS. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2014)

A new church opened last week in the Swedish town of Södertalje, 30km south of Stockholm, for the estimated 5,000-6,000 Chaldean Catholics who have resettled there after fleeing their homes in the Middle East. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, Germany, who participated in the inaugural service, explained to German . . . Read More

Universal Children’s Day: Kidnapped Christina receives letter from German namesake

November 20, 2017 Iraq Ankawa, Children, Christina Abada, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Five-year-old Christina, shortly after she was reunited with her family, including mother Ayda in the back. (Twitter @thestevennabil)

When German teenager Christina learned that a three-year-old girl with the same name from Qaraqosh, Iraq, had been abducted by Islamic State militants in August 2014, she started praying. A few months ago she heard the news of Christina’s release and decided to write a letter to the little girl, . . . Read More

Christians returning to former IS-occupied Karamles ‘increasing day to day’

October 12, 2017 Iraq Chaldeans, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Kurds, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

It’s been a year since Karamles was liberated from Islamic State group (IS) militants. It was one of the Nineveh Plains towns east of Mosul that fell to IS as it advanced across northern Iraq in August 2014. The occupation forced Christian families to flee for safer cities like Erbil, . . . Read More

Iraqi Archbishop of Mosul: ‘My cousin, my friend, my teacher – all killed by terrorists’

August 31, 2017 Iraq Al-Qaeda, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Saddam Hussein, Salafism

The last Christian leader to leave Mosul after it was invaded by the Islamic State group in 2014 has spoken about his personal loss to terrorism, as Nuri Kino reports in the Huffington Post. Archbishop Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, who risked his life to stay as long as possible in Mosul, . . . Read More

Archbishop fears persistence of IS ideology despite military defeat

August 4, 2017 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Peshmerga

A former archbishop of Mosul has warned that the totalitarian ideology of the Islamic State (IS) group may continue despite the recent recapture of the city and its surrounding areas by Iraqi forces. Chaldean Archbishop Amel Nona was among the thousands of Iraqi Christians who fled their homes in northern . . . Read More

Iraq: Karamles residents face fears as they begin rebuilding

June 19, 2017 Iraq Islamic State, Karamles, Mosul

Father Thabet looks at remains of what was once the home he grew up in. (Photo: Open Doors International)

As Iraqi government forces drive Islamic State militants from their last stronghold in the city of Mosul, the residents of Karamles, a town 30km to the east which was liberated six months ago, are returning to rebuild their homes. The government has ordered the local school to be reopened after . . . Read More

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