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The first clearance of rubble and explosives around the Al Tahera Catholic Church in Mosul has been completed paving the way for reconstruction to begin, the UN’s cultural agency said on Thursday. The church was severely damaged by ISIS during the bloody internationally-backed Iraqi government battle to wrest the northern Iraqi city back from the militants. Launched under the Reviving the Spirit of Mosul programme that aims to restore the shattered city, the agency aims to rebuild Mosul’s historic landmarks. The reconstruction of the Al Tahera Church as well as several other religious sites – including the famous Al...

UNESCO Reconstruction begins on Mosul's Al-Tahera Syriac-Catholic Church by Anup Oommen14 Sep 2020 Reconstruction and rehabilitation works have begun on Iraq’s Al-Tahera Church in the Old City of Mosul in close coordination with the UAE and local authorities.Phase 1 of the project, which included clearing the rubble and securing the project site for reconstruction, has been completed, according to the UNESCO authorities. The reconstruction works will be quite complex, as large parts of the structure’s arcades and its external walls have been damaged. Local contractors, under the supervision of skilled experts, have been chosen to do the work. In addition,...

Rehabilitation works will include the church’s arcades, external walls, the annexed cloister, a dining room, and sacristy rooms Reconstruction and rehabilitation works have begun on Iraq’s Al-Tahera Church in the Old City of Mosul in close coordination with the UAE and local authorities. Phase 1 of the project, which included clearing the rubble and securing the project site for reconstruction, has been completed, according to the UNESCO authorities. The reconstruction works will be quite complex, as large parts of the structure’s arcades and its external walls have been damaged. Local contractors, under the supervision of skilled experts, have been chosen...

Mosul, Iraq, Oct 22, 2019 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- The United Arab Emirates is partnering with UNESCO to rebuild two Catholic churches in Mosul that were destroyed in 2014 by the Islamic State. The initiative will help rebuild Al-Tahera Church and Al-Saa'a Church. “Today’s signing is a pioneering partnership that sends a message of light, in seemingly darker times,” Noura Al Kaabi, UAE Minister for Culture and Knowledge Development, said Oct. 10. “By rebuilding a fraction of the past, Iraq can shape its future as an inclusive, tolerant and open society which has always found a tangible manifestation in Mosul’s...

A family, who wants their identity protected, hid for three years two books containing Syriac Orthodox rituals. The head of the family recently entrusted them to a former Christian neighbour, with whom they have been friends for years. For Chaldean priest, many Muslims view Christians as brothers and are ready to risk their lives for a book.Mosul (AsiaNews) – A Muslim family hid for three years two ancient Syriac Orthodox books in Mosul during the city’s occupation by the Islamic State (IS) group to prevent their destruction at the latter’s hands. They did so, putting their own lives at risk....

IN MOSUL, Iraq’s second largest city, Christmas bells rang out again this year for the first time in four years. During the preceding years this once so familiar sound had no longer been heard. Now, thanks to the ouster of ISIS from the city, Christians were able to celebrate Christmas Mass in the church of Mar Boulus (Saint Paul) in the Al-Mundshen suburb of Mosul. However, the joyful event almost didn’t happen. Right up until Christmas it had been nearly impossible for Christians to clean their church in Mosul. But then a group of young Muslims took the initiative, helping...

Fr. Paul describes Christmas celebrations in the former stronghold of the Islamic State. Liturgies on the Nineveh plain "crowded and vibrant". A new Archbishop in Mosul to rebuild the community, on a pastoral and social level. Christians and Muslims against obscurantism, ask for "dialogue and modernity".Mosul (AsiaNews) - If 2014 was "the black year" with the flight of the bishop, priests and faithful following the rise of the Islamic State (IS, ex Isis), then 2019 will be the year "of our rebirth, of pastoral and social challenges, of the return of the refugees," says Fr. Paul Thabit Mekko, the head...

Months after Isis was forced out and tired of waiting for government action, volunteers have begun the urgent job of rebuilding Iraq’s citiesEven if we work every day for the next six months, we still won’t finish this job – we don’t have enough support or equipment,” says Muhammed Shaban, an officer of the Civil Defence Force in west Mosul, in the exhausted tone of someone who is unable to separate his life from his work. Shaban and his colleagues were recovering as many as 30 bodies a day in August last year, one month after the fighting ceased. More...

Iraqi pro-government fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units have found a mass grave in the country’s northern province of Nineveh containing the bodies of dozens of Christians believed to have been executed by Daesh Takfiri terrorists. An unnamed source from the Syriac Orthodox Church told Arabic-language al-Ghad Press news agency that the volunteer forces, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, unearthed the mass grave along with security troops in Halila region near the village of Badush, located some 15 kilometers northwest of Mosul. The source added the mass grave contains the bodies of 40 Christian victims, noting that...

Candle lights, fragrant of incense and sounds of bells brought back to life in the Chaldean Church of St. Paul in Mosul (Almajmoua’ Althaqafyia suburb). The Eucharist, symbol of the New Testament for the salvation of all mankind is back again on the altar. All this happened on Sunday, 24 December 2017, when His Beatitude the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako celebrated the mass in participation of the Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni, the Archbishop of Mosul of Syriac Catholics, Putros Moshi and the Archbishop of Mosul of Syriac Orthodox, Nicademos Sharaf, in addition to some priests. Among them Fr....

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...

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...

The forum includes Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Italy. Energy Ministers of seven countries, including Israel’s Yuval Steinitz, attended an event launching the new East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) in a virtual event hosted in Cairo on Tuesday morning. “The blessing of gas brings regional cooperation with Arab and European countries, the first of its kind in history, including contracts to export $30 billion of blue-and-white gas to Jordan and Egypt, and that’s only the beginning,” Steinitz said. The forum includes Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Italy, whose ambassadors, and Egyptian Energy...

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is King of Saudi Arabia He is 84 years old and said to be in ill health. Social media mill grinding out the rumours he is in critical condition. https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1307847955639083008

ISIS militants have taken over paradise islands in the Indian Ocean, burning down hotels and imposing Sharia Law. Luxury islands off the coast of Mozambique, where A-list celebrities spend their holidays, have been overrun by insurgents linked to Islamic State. Luxury hotels, wildlife, and homes have been torched and "reduced to ashes" in the militant attacks. The ISIS insurgents have ordered residents to abandon the islands of Vamizi and Mecungo - where celebrities like Daniel Craig, Bono and Prince Albert of Monaco have holidayed in luxury. Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and political leader Nelson Mandela have also been known to have...