For once, this month global media attention was drawn to the region for positive reasons. The visit of Pope Francis to Iraq shone a light on a community hoping for healing and reconciliation and on the historic presence of Christians in the Middle East. In Iraq, this month saw the first ever visit of a Vatican Pope. Despite security and […]
It is now five years since so-called Islamic State (IS) seized the Iraqi city of Mosul and advanced within an hour of Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of citizens fled for their lives. Some who escaped as children are now grown up, including Bella and Sareel, two extraordinary, faith-filled 18-year-old girls. SAT-7 met them in Amman, Jordan, where their families eventually […]
After three years of waiting and nine months of relentless conflict, the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS) has seen two major breakthroughs in the last couple of weeks. News from the Church in the region, meanwhile, revealed differing pressures and examples of believers showing great perseverance and responding to adversity with compassion and careful reflection. Iraq’s second city […]
Just when we might have thought the Middle East had seen it all in terms of possible crises, a move by several members of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) to bring the small but ambitious country of Qatar into line has triggered another. After last month’s visit to Saudi Arabia by President Trump of the USA, and his apparent support […]
This Easter, as we remembered the death and resurrection of our Saviour, world events continued to present us with the sharp contrasts of suffering and hope – the darkness of the present moment and the promise that all things will be made new in Christ. It’s a message that is more important than ever for the people of the Middle […]
Another month, another surprise twist in world affairs. This month the election of Donald Trump as the next US President sent shock waves across the world, including the Middle East. Meanwhile, the long-heralded operation to liberate Mosul from so-called Islamic State gave new hope to displaced Iraqi people. The details of President Elect Trump’s policies for the Middle East are […]
Up to 50,000 Iraqi Christians are expected to come together to pray and commit their nation to God at a major gathering in Erbil on Friday (18 November). SAT-7 will invite viewers across the Arab world to join with their Iraqi brothers and sisters in prayer by broadcasting the Life Agape ChristDay event live throughout the region. The six-hour prayer […]
GIRL WHO FORGAVE ISIS CAN’T WAIT TO GO HOME TO QARAQOSH Almost two years after a SAT-7 interview with a ten-year-old displaced Iraqi girl went viral on the internet, the same girl told the channel she can’t wait to go home to Qaraqosh when the liberation of the Mosul area is completed. Myriam and her family spoke from the Erbil […]
The effects of unrelenting warfare on civilian populations continue to be felt from Syria to the Yemen. Only in Iraq does the fighting raise brighter hopes as so-called Islamic State are pushed out. Syria’s relentless war continues. A French draft resolution to the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo and a no-fly zone to end the […]
Two Christian refugees look for hope in Jordan and Kurdistan One year ago (9 June 2014), the Iraqi city of Mosul fell to militants belonging to a Sunni Muslim movement calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities, threatened with execution, fled. These are the stories of two who have […]
