UN says volume of people fleeing Mosul in Iraq stretching resources to their limits
Almost half a million people have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul since military operations to retake it from the so-called Islamic State commenced, a figure a senior UN official has described as “staggering” amid warnings that relief efforts are being stretched to their limits. Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in […]
LAST LETTERS: FROM MOSUL SCHOOLBOYS TO ISLAMIC STATE ‘MARTYRS’
Drawing on documents found in eastern Mosul following its recapture by Iraqi forces, Reuters reporter STEPHEN KALIN, in an article published by Religion News Service, looks for some insight into the mindset of schoolboys prepared to die for the so-called Islamic State…
IRAQ: “[ISLAMIC STATE] MADE ME SPIT ON A CROSS AND CONVERT TO ISLAM”
A correspondent for World Watch Monitor reports from Iraq…
Celebration for thousands of displaced Iraqis ahead of bittersweet homecoming
World Watch Monitor Thousands of displaced Iraqi Christians celebrated a ‘Return Festival’ as the military advance against Islamic State (IS) in and around the city of Mosul raised their hopes of returning home after two years in exile. The festival in Erbil on 18th November was organised by Life Agape, with the support of the […]
Almost 10,000 Iraqi children displaced in fight for Mosul, says UNICEF
Almost 10,000 children displaced by the operation to take Mosul from followers of the so-called Islamic State are in “urgent need” of humanitarian assistance, says UNICEF. More than 20,000 people have been displaced in total since the operation began and the UN Children’s Fund estimates that 9,700 of them are children. Pernille Ironside, UNICEF’s chief […]
IRAQ: MORE TOWNS ‘FREED’ BUT NINEVEH CHRISTIANS NOT CONFIDENT ABOUT SAFE RETURN
As the so-called Islamic State is driven from towns and villages on the Nineveh Plain in north-eastern Iraq, the future for the many Christians who formerly lived there remains uncertain. World Watch Monitor reports…
‘Christian’ town freed en route to Mosul
World Watch Monitor 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 invasion, was […]
POSTCARDS: AS RETAKE OF MOSUL LOOMS, MUSLIM EXTREMISM HAS ALREADY EMPTIED IRAQ OF CHRISTIANS
As the Iraqi military kicks off a campaign to retake Mosul from the so-called Islamic State, World Watch Monitor speaks to former resident Amer about the grim reality facing many Christians in Iraq…
Fears for children as Iraqi military launches offensive on Islamic State stronghold of Mosul
Children fleeing the Iraq city of Mosul as a military offensive to retake it from the so-called Islamic State will need years of specialist support to rebuild their lives, World Vision has warned. Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, said the organisation was preparing for the possibility that the offensive would result in […]
IS blows up Assyrian church near Mosul, Iraq
World Watch Monitor An Assyrian church in Iraq’s north-eastern Nineveh Plains became on Sunday, 9th October, the latest to be destroyed by “the Islamic State” (IS), as the jihadist group continues to face losses on the ground. St Barbara Fouq Attal (on-the-Hill) was blown up when IS fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices inside […]