Displaying items by tag: Iraq

Thursday, 30 November 2017 11:28

Prayers for the future of Kurdistan, Iraq

An independence referendum for Iraqi Kurdistan was held on 25 September 2017, with results showing approximately 93 percent of votes cast in favour of independence. The autonomous Kurdistan

Regional Government (KRG) claimed that this result triggered the start of state building and negotiations with Iraq about this. But the opposite happened: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered his forces to retake the province of Kirkuk from the Kurdish Peshmerga’s control. Abadi had support from Iran, Turkey, the Persian Gulf countries and the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State militant group. The Peshmerga, isolated and divided, withdrew.

Rather than establishing independence, the Kurds lost territory, including the economically strategic city of Kirkuk. Fighting continued in other areas of Kurdistan. The government in Bagdad announced also that they will control again all the borders of Iraq. Even though a ceasefire has been recently established between the Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga the tensions are still high.

In addition, on 29th October Masoud Barzani the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq has announced his stepping down as president. This has added to the uncertainty about Kurdistan’s political future.

PRAYER

Pray: We ask you to earnestly pray for Kurdistan in this uncertain and dangerous situation.

Pray: for peace in Kurdistan and for a good agreement to be achieved between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. The Kurds will not give up their autonomy and want to continue to control their borders. Without a miracle from God there could be more tension and even a war.

-After a few years of prayer for a team in Kurdistan we have now a family that has planned to move into Kurdistan in November. A house with an office for our organisation has been rented.

Pray: for wisdom for our leadership and the family to make the right decision when to move into Kurdistan. Please pray for the Lord’s guidance and strength, courage and that we can soon establish a team there.

Thank you very much for standing with us in the gap for this nation that is threatened by war, political instability and for praying with us that His kingdom will continue to expand, also through our work there.

With thanks and deep appreciation,

Your Prayer Update Team

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Friday, 17 November 2017 10:31

Iran, Iraq: earthquake aid

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered humanitarian assistance, via the Red Cross, to the victims of a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake that killed hundreds in Iran and Iraq on 13 November. He was immediately refused. Netanyahu said Israel has no quarrel with the people of Iran; the quarrel is with the regime that threatens Israel’s destruction. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Iranians are living in the open, after homes built with earth were totally destroyed. The terrain is mountainous, and the temperature is dropping. The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Jafari, said the immediate need was for tents, water and food. Pray for this crucial aid to reach the inaccessible areas as helicopters and army vehicles are mobilised. Pray for clear communication between agencies organising search and rescue operations and relief camps. Pray for those in hospitals, and those in mourning. See also

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 10 November 2017 11:05

Iraq: a ‘second army’

For almost two years US-backed Iraqi government forces, with Kurdish Peshmerga forces and other allies, fought to remove IS fighters. 63 factions make up Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) - groups united by ethnic and tribal leaders, whose fighters are either loyal to religious scholars, Iraqi political leaders, or Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. The diversity of PMF's forty divisions of 60,000+ fighters sheds light on many of Iraq's sectarian tensions and its ambiguous political future. Although formed via a religious decree to fight IS, many fighters are empowered by Iran and other non-state commands. Others are represented in Iraq’s parliament. A Middle East Forum analyst said that various larger PMF factions have been fighting to expand their political influence to gain ground for next year’s parliamentary elections while smaller, weaker PMF factions also have political ambitions and cannot be ruled out.

Published in Worldwide
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Friday, 03 November 2017 11:48

Message from Open Doors UK

Open Doors write, ‘We have some breaking news to share with you! We’ve just heard that the Prime Minister Theresa May has agreed to meet us and some of our partners from Iraq on 13 December, and receive the Hope for the Middle East petition! Her influence could make a real difference to the lives of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria.’ Open Doors are inviting people to join those who have already signed the Hope for the Middle East petition before it is presented to the United Nations on 11 December and to the Prime Minister two days later. The petition presents the voice of Christians in Iraq and Syria asking for the right to equal citizenship, dignified living conditions, and a prominent role in reconciling and rebuilding society. The impact of this campaign is already being felt, as people from Iraq have been moving back to their towns and villages.

Published in British Isles
Wednesday, 01 November 2017 05:16

99. NSFA Update #51

NATIONAL SECURITY FOREIGN AFFAIRS UPDATE
OCTOBER 23, 2017 (REPORT #51)

Highlights:

  • Cold War returns with nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour alert
  • CIA expands Taliban hunt
  • ISIS battle converges in the Euphrates Valley
  • Iraqi, Kurdish forces exchange fire at shared border
  • U.S. Forces Korea ready with THAAD
  • Russia complains U.S.-led coalition destroyed Raqqa like allies did the German city of Dresden in World War Two
  • U.S. SEC State calls on Iran-backed militia to go home
  • Iraq’s PM rejects Tillerson’s call for PMU to “go home”

CURRENT

  • Cold War Returns with Nuclear-Armed Bombers on 24-hour alert.  DefenseOne reports the U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour ready alert, something not seen since the end of the Cold War.  “This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said.  “I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we’re prepared going forward.”  Putting the bomber fleet on alert is just one of many decisions facing the Air Force as the U.S. military responds to changing geopolitical environment that includes North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal as well as Russia’s increasingly potent and active armed forces.
  • CIA expands Taliban hunt.  The New York Times reports the CIA is expanding its operations in Afghanistan, sending teams alongside Afghan forces to hunt Taliban jihadi.  The Times reports this is a shift for the CIA in that country, where it had focused on defeating al Qaeda and helping Afghan intelligence operatives.  The agency’s paramilitary division, which is taking on the mission, numbers only in the hundreds and is deployed all over the world.  The expanded mission reflects that agency’s assertive role under Mike Pompeo, the new director, to combat insurgents around the world.  Pompeo said “We can’t perform our mission if we’re not aggressive.  … This is unforgiving, relentless.  You pick the word.  Every minute, we have to be focused on crushing our enemies.”
  • ISIS battle converges in the Euphrates Valley.  The Air Force Times reports the coalition’s fight with ISIS jihadi is now focused along a stretch of the Euphrates River Valley straddling the Syrian border.   ISIS no longer has a presence in cities such as Mosul, Tal Afar and Haditha.  Rather, U.S.-led coalition forces are focused on driving ISIS out of towns like al Qaim.   Air operations are “shaping” the battlefield by taking out weapons centers like car bomb factories and ISIS C3 centers.  Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, deputy commanding general for Air, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command, Operation Inherent Resolve, said “They’ll move against multiple areas in the Euphrates River Valley in a multi-axis operation.  The preponderance of ISIS forces, we believe, are in that area … essentially all the way out east to Rawa.”

CONSEQUENCES

  • Iraqi, Kurdish forces exchange fire at shared border.  The Military Times reports Iraqi federal and Kurdish forces exchanged fire at their shared border on Friday, ending a week of conflict whereby Kurds returned control to Iraqi forces.  By mid-Friday, Iraq’s defense ministry said anti-terrorism forces used artillery against Kurdish forces in AltunKupri, a town in the Kurdish region.    Kurdish forces withdrew last week in most areas to positions they last held in 2014, restoring the map to the time before the rise of ISIS.
  • U.S. Forces Korea ready with THAAD.  The Yonhap News Agency reports the U.S. Forces Korea set-up the unit charged with operating the advanced missile defense system deployed in that country.  On Thursday, a ceremony was held in Seongju to transfer the Delta Battery of the 11th Air Defense Artillery brigade to the 35th ADA Brigade in South Korea.  The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, which has missile launchers, command and control facilities and a powerful radar, was first deployed in April, but at that time there were only two interceptor launchers.  Four more launchers arrived last month.
  • Russia complains U.S.-led coalition destroyed Raqqa like allies did the German city of Dresden in World War Two.  The BBC reports the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurds and Arabs, destroyed Raqqa, and Moscow compared that result to the Allied destruction of the German city of Dresden in WW II.  Russia itself was accused of committing war crimes for bombarding Aleppo, Syria last year.  UN war crimes investigators in June that there had been a “staggering loss of civilian life” in Raqqa.  A Russian defense spokesman said “Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments.”
  • U.S. SEC State calls on Iran-backed militia to go home.  The BBC reports U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Iran-backed militias fighting ISIS should leave northern Iraq as the battle is nearing its end.  Tillerson insists mopping up should be left to the Iraqis.   Iraqi forces have been fighting ISIS alongside Popular Mobilization Units, a coalition of Shia militia, backed by Iran.  Those units have been accused of abuses, including torture and killings, during the anti-ISIS operations in Iraq.
  • Iraq’s PM rejects Tillerson’s call for PMU to “go home.”The media office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Oct. 23 criticized U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent statements that Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units who helped Iraq fight the Islamic State should "go home," Reuters reported. According to Reuters, the prime minister's office said that "No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters."  

Pray – lets be in prayer over each of these very significant situations and pray as we are guided.

Robert Maginnis
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Iraqi Christians are divided over whether their areas in northern Iraq should be a part of Kurdistan, the Iraqi central government, or an entirely new autonomous area. The Chaldean Catholic patriarch, in an interview on 16 October, expressed his concern that the Kurdish crisis would put the Christians’ presence in Iraq at risk . He said the current conflict in the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil would impede the Christians’ return to their areas, and prompt them to rush to leave their country for good. He said they should unite and engage in dialogue to preserve the Christian component in Iraq. Nevertheless, this appeal may not gain much traction because of great differences of opinion, particularly after the Kurdish independence referendum on 25 September - see the Prayer Alert article at

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 29 September 2017 11:24

Iraq: Kurds vote for independence

An email from a Kurdish Christian says, ‘On 25 September, in a landmark referendum, Kurds in three northern provinces of Iraq voted for independence for the Kurdistan region. Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never obtained a permanent nation state. Kurds faced decades of repression before acquiring autonomy in 1991. 5.2 million Kurds and non-Kurds who were registered as resident in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq voted, even though Iraq’s prime minister denounced the referendum as unconstitutional. Neighbouring Turkey and Iran also vehemently objected to it, fearing it will stoke separatist feeling among their own Kurdish minorities. Even the US government voiced serious concerns. Dear friends, we ask for your urgent and ongoing prayer, for wisdom for the Kurdish government leaders and peace in the region.’ For a media report on the situation, click the ‘More’ button.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 08 September 2017 10:41

Iraq: Christians returning to Mosul

In July many feared that Christians would not be able to return to Mosul (see ). However, they are cautiously coming back; and as they do so, so does the Mass. Father Luis Montes celebrated Mass at St George’s Monastery. The priest travelled to Mosul to record part of a documentary that seeks to show the reality of life for Christians in Iraq and Syria. ‘The experience of celebrating the Eucharist amidst so much devastation was awe-inspiring’, he said. ‘In this place, which has been attacked for being Christian, the contemplation of the mystery of the cross, which is renewed in Holy Mass, had so much power. Some priests later told the young people who accompanied me that they believed that this was the first Mass celebrated in the last three years within Mosul, which was among the areas hardest hit by IS. It’s really a gift from God.’

Published in Praise Reports

On 6 August Patriarch Louis Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic church, called on Iraqi Christians to unite under one banner and work past their various political affiliations and differing doctrines. In his statement, issued after two armed Christian factions clashed in the Nineveh plains, he said that Christian political parties and armed factions are ‘responsible to a great extent for the suffering and disorder in which Christians live.’ He added, ‘We believe that a huge part of this ordeal is self-inflicted and caused by parties' divisions, their subordination (to Shi’ite and Kurdish groups), and their failure to unite efforts and ranks and make a unified decision.’ Internal Christian divisions have existed for a long time, but they deepened when a number of armed Christian factions formed after IS took over Christian territories in the Nineveh plains.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 28 July 2017 08:57

Iraq: ongoing power struggles

For centuries the social and political organisation of many Iraqis has centred on the tribe. Socially, tribes were divided into related sub-tribes, which further divided into clans, and then into extended families. Today 75% of Iraq’s people are members of a tribe with a strict honour code. Despite the liberation of most of IS-occupied areas, political differences and a struggle for power remain. There have been clashes between the Popular Mobilisation Units and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces near Kirkuk. Also, on 20 July clashes between the Sunni Nineveh Guards and the Shi’ite faction of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada took place in Mosul. There are fears that these clashes might expand into open warfare amid deep differences over the disputed tribal areas extending from the Iranian border, through Kirkuk province and into Yazidi areas near the Syrian border. Terrorists have also been exploiting tribal differences for years. For historical roots, see:

Published in Worldwide
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