It’s not every night that a small church in a Worthing side street is filled with Middle Eastern melodies. But this was the night when Maher Fayez, Egypt’s best-known Christian musician and worship leader and a sometime presenter on SAT-7 ARABIC, was in town. SAT-7 UK Communications Officer Lindsay Shaw seized the opportunity to hear him and chat about his […]
The news cycle has moved on, but in Lebanon over a million Syrian refugees remain. Some 350,000 are camped in the Zahle region of the Bekaa Valley alone. In a recent visit to two families there, Katerina Parpa, a Communications Officer in SAT-7’s International Office, saw the possibility of change amongst their very real struggles. Imagine you have spent a […]
Tensions between powerful Middle East rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran were catapulted to new levels when drones set two Saudi Arabian oil refineries ablaze (14 September). The resulting damage halved the Gulf kingdom’s oil output and reportedly cut world crude oil supplies by over five per cent. Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility, but the US blamed Iran for the […]
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 […]
Events in Sudan and the Gulf of Oman dominated headlines this month as the Middle East seemed set for a dangerous summer. Violence overtook months of peaceful protest in Sudan on 3 June. So-called Rapid Support Forces used live ammunition, severe beatings and rape to disperse a sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum. Two months before, pro-democracy demonstrators had succeeded […]
“It was as if God had prepared us for this,” says Pastor Hikmat Kashouh of his congregation. He is recalling the time, almost eight years ago, when over a million Syrian refugees started pouring into Lebanon, fleeing civil war. Resurrection Church, Beirut, had already built strong connections with local Syrian workers. But what the church was less prepared for was […]
A message of forgiveness for so-called Islamic State (IS) given by a schoolgirl in a refugee camp “captured millions of hearts” when it went viral in 2014. Now a 30-minute SAT-7 film, Sequel of Hope, catches up with Myriam and her family as they celebrate their first Easter back in their Christian hometown of Qaraqosh. With World Refugee Day on […]
Iraqi girl who “captured millions of hearts” urges Christians to pray, bring hope to refugee children A refugee girl who fled so-called Islamic State (IS) but captured the hearts of millions on TV and social media with a message of hope and forgiveness is calling on Christians to take action on World Refugee Day, 20 June. “Please, please, don’t forget […]
Samira* and her family fled conflict in Syria, and now live as refugees in Lebanon. Here she shares the challenges of raising children in the midst of uncertainty, and the security she has finally found by experiencing God’s love. “In 2012, my husband and I had just married when a bomb destroyed our home. We escaped to Lebanon, along with […]
While calm is beginning to return to parts of the region, the challenges of rebuilding politically, socially and physically are deep. Meanwhile, key regional players like Saudi Arabia and Iran face new political and economic pressures that could restrain their influence. The year began with attempts by US defence staff and international allies to come to terms with President Trump’s […]
