Displaying items by tag: IS

Mariyam Petrayus, a blind Christian woman, was trapped under IS control in Mosul for over two years before she escaped. When IS took over territory in Iraq, it gave Christians and other religious minorities the option to convert to Islam, pay a large tax or die. Mariyam, who is now living in the Sewdinan displacement camp, recounted at least one instance in which an IS jihadist pressured her to convert to Islam. Mariyam, who is in her 50s, refused to deny Christ. ‘He told me, “Why don't you convert to Islam? Why are you Christian?” I told him that everyone is on their religion, and nobody leaves their religion.’ She also told the jihadi that she did not want to convert to Islam and be anything like him.

The Syrian Arab Army has been kept busy in the eastern countryside of Homs since they liberated Palmyra, attacking several areas controlled by the IS forces north of the city. Among these areas are the Jazal Mountains, situated 10 km northwest of Palmyra. On Sunday, the Syrian Arab Army’s newly-formed 5th Legion entered the gas fields in this mountain region, liberating the entire site after 24 hours of fierce combat. The army now controls two of the four gas fields that are situated near the Palmyra-Homs highway.

‘People knock on doors begging for food,’ said a man who fled north Mosul with family still trapped there. ‘People will start dying of starvation. There are no doctors or food. No flour, no bulgur wheat, no rice, no milk, nothing to eat.’ As fighting continues, thousands of families have already fled Mosul for their lives, and many more are expected to do so. UNHCR anticipate 250,000 displaced who will need shelter, food and water - including distressed children and those requiring urgent medical care. ‘What we're hearing from inside western Mosul right now is deeply concerning,’ said Save the Children’s director in Iraq. Meanwhile, since December, four million letters of hope and love, written by civilians, have been dropped over IS-held parts of Mosul. Volunteers gathered 2,000+ letters, photocopied them and then showered them from a transport plane. See:

IS fanatics have issued ‘direct threats’ to Spanish tourist hotspots where millions of Britons are expected to visit this year, according to a government report. The warnings were reportedly found on social media, amid fears that the terror group is also recruiting translators and foreign jihadists from the country. Its bid to find Spanish speaking fanatics started last summer, the report claims, adding that extremists are increasingly publishing in the language. It comes just weeks after police in San Sebastian, in the country’s north, arrested a Moroccan boxing coach suspected of recruiting for IS.

50-year-old Christian schoolteacher Gamal Tawfiq was shot in the head on his way to El-Samran School in el-Arish, Northern Sinai. His killers rode motorbikes. Also this week militants killed local Christian vet Bahgat Zakher. Last month a Christian merchant was gunned down by militants in his shop, and five Coptic Christians had their throats slashed in a killing spree. In December IS bombed a Cairo church killing 27 people and wounding 40+. IS called it a 'martyrdom operation' targeting 'infidels' and 'apostates'. Ishaq Ibrahim of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said, ‘We are witnessing an increase of Christian killings that I think will turn into a repetitive pattern in el-Arish’. On 20 February IS released a video calling for the slaughter of Egyptian Christians. See:

Officials say that six Afghan Red Cross workers have been killed by suspected IS group gunmen in the province of Jowzjan. Two others are unaccounted for, feared abducted by the gunmen. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed the deaths, but said it did not know who was to blame. The ICRC said it is putting its work in Afghanistan on temporary hold. ‘We need to understand more clearly what happened; this is one of the most critical humanitarian contexts, and we will definitely do everything to continue our operations there,’ said ICRC director of operations Dominik Stillhart. IS has been operating in Afghanistan since 2015, claiming responsibility for attacks in Kabul and the east. But there has been no immediate claim for the attack in Jowzjan.