Iraqi Foreign Minister Confirms al-Qaeda Fighters Entering Syria

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has confirmed reports that there is a significant flow of Islamists militants from Iraq into Syria to participate in the Sunni uprisings there against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Supporters of al-Qaeda, theoretically one of the United States' main opponents in the international terrorist scene, are among the militants entering Syria to fight its secularist regime. More here.

Assyrian Holy Synod Meets, Consecrates New Bishop

A session of the full Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East has been held under Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khnanya) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon at the seat of the Church in Chicago. During the course of session the assembled hierarchs discussed the current challenges facing the Assyrian Church in Iraq and Syria as well as in the Assyrian Diaspora. A new bishop for the eastern United States, Bishop Mar Paul (Benyamin), was consecrated following the close of the session. Prior to his consecration Bishop Mar Paul, a native of northwestern Iran, served in Assyrian parishes in Tehran and Chicago. More here and here.

US Troops to Withdraw Fully from Iraq

President Barack Obama has announced that all US troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year, bringing to a close the long US military involvement in the country that has seen the collapse of order and widespread discrimination against and persecution of Iraq's previously sizable Assyrian Christian, Eastern Catholic, and Orthodox Christian minorities. More here.

Al-Qaeda Iraq Bombings Make Dormition Bloodiest Day of 2011

Today marks the bloodiest day in Iraq this year, with some 31 bombings, presumed to be the responsibility of al-Qaeda, taking place in the country. One of the bombings targeted St. Ephraim's Syriac Orthodox Church in Kirkuk, but thankfully the bomb went off well before new style Dormition celebrations at the church. More here and here.

US Commission Calls for Discussion of Safety of Iraqi Religious Minorities

In light of the recent bombing of a Syriac Catholic church in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the attempted bombings of two other churches the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the US and Iraqi governments make the security of Iraq's religious minorities a topic of discussion in negotiations on the presence of US forces in Iraq after this year. More here.

"Christ...Has Drawn Us Closer to Him"

Three parishes of the Assyrian Church of the East in Baghdad have gathered to celebrate the Divine Liturgy together and encourage one another as Iraqi Christians continue to live daily with the threats of Islamists seeking to purge the country of its non-Muslim minorities. More here.

Syriac Orthodox Man Murdered in Mosul

A member of Mosul's Syriac Orthodox community, Arkan Jihad Yacob, was murdered in the northern Iraqi city over the weekend. Mr. Yacob, a father of four and the vice-president of his company, had escaped several kidnapping attempts prior to his execution-style murder. More here. May his memory be eternal!

Iraqi Christian Brutally Tortured, Murdered in Kirkuk

The return of the brutally tortured body of murdered Chaldean Catholic Ashur Issa Yaqub has the Christian residents of Kirkuk in northern Iraq reconsidering whether to remain in the region or leave their homeland altogether. More here.

Russian Orthodox, Assyrian Hierarchs Meet

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk of the Russian Orthodox Church has met with Bishop Mar Iskhaq (Yosip) of Nohadra, who serves in the Diocese of Northern Iraq and Russia of the Assyrian Church of the East.

During the meeting Bishop Mar Isaac asked Metropolitan Hilarion to greet Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow on behalf of the head of the Church of the East, Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and to help the Church of the East in raising awareness of the plight of Iraq's Christians.

More here.

"Arab Christians and their Rights"

An excellent article explaining the reasoning behind the ancient Orthodox Churches' defense of the Middle Eastern dictatorships they have found themselves in over the last few decades can be found here.

Iraqi Armenians Commemorate Genocide

Commemorations have been held by the Armenian Orthodox in northern Iraq to mark the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. More here.

Iraqi Christians Seek to Immigrate

Iraqi Christians are still seeking to immigrate rather than remain in Iraq. More here.

Assyrian Coalition Seeking Solutions to Iraqi Security, Economic Issues

As Assyrians worldwide celebrate the New Year a coalition of Assyrian, Chaldean, and ethnic Syrian political parties have sponsored a fact-finding mission in northern Iraq to determine the current state of the Assyrian nation in the region and gather data to help the coalition find and propose solutions to the security and economic issues faced by Iraq's Assyrians. More here.

"Defying Deletion"

An excellent review of a new documentary on the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Iraq's Assyrians can be found here.

Iraqi Kurdistan Offers Christians Refuge, Not Work

Many of Iraq's Christians have taken up Iraqi Kurdistan's offer of refuge and have found personal security, but no work or way to make a living. More here.

Iraqi Christian Leaders Appeal to WCC

A delegation of various Iraqi Christian leaders including Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Addai II of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of the Ancient Church of the East, Archbishop Avak (Asadourian) of Baghdad of the Armenian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Mar Gewargis (Sliwa) of Baghdad of the Assyrian Church of the East has gone to the World Council of Churches to ask for help in improving the security situation of Christians in Iraq. More here.

Iraqi Christianity: Freedom? Democracy?

"Americans came here to bring us democracy. What democracy? To be allowed to kill without any responsibility?" This, from the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, and other updates on the ongoing plight of Iraq's Christian minorities can be found here.

Assyrian Metropolitan Meets with Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon

Metropolitan Mar Meelis (Zaia) of Sydney of the Assyrian Church of the East met with the Iraqi ambassador to Lebanon this week in Beirut to discuss the situation of Assyrian Christians in Iraq and the Diaspora and the efforts of the Iraqi government to protect them in the Iraqi-occupied regions of their homeland, which also in the past included parts of what is today southeastern Turkey and eastern Syria. More here.

Iraqi Police Prevent Bombing

Iraqi police in Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, have prevented the bombing of an Assyrian or Chaldean Catholic church in the city. More here.

Iraqi Christians to Petition for Autonomous Assyrian Province

Leaders of sixteen Iraqi Christian parties have met in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan to prepare a petition to the Iraqi government for the creation of an autonomous Assyrian province on the territory of two largely Assyrian districts on the plains of Nineveh in the heart of ancient Assyria in northern Iraq.

Long after their empire ceased to exist Assyrians continued to live in their heartlands on the plains and in the mountains of what today are northern Iraq, western Iran, southeastern Turkey, and northeastern Syria. Along with the Armenians the Assyrians suffered the first modern genocide at the hands of the Turks and the Kurds in the early 1900s during World War I as payback for their support for invading Russian armies, which they had hoped would liberate their homeland from Arab Muslim rule for the first time in over a millennium. Between 500,000 and 750,000 Assyrians were murdered in the Genocide, which eventually forced most into the Diaspora, among them the patriarch of the Church of the East (who now resides in the Chicago area). More information on the national tragedy of the Seyfo, the Assyrian Genocide, can be found here.

More on the petition and the prospects for an Assyrian province can be found here.

Pictured is the memorial to the Assyrian Genocide in Kiev, Ukraine.