Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq who are under mounting pressure from Islamist extremists.
As recently as Saturday an Iraqi Franciscan priest, Dhiya Aziz, was abducted by militants in Yacoubieh, Idlib province, in north-west Syria. The area is under the control of Jabhat an-Nusra, a group with links to al-Qaeda.
Advances by Islamic State militants in the north-eastern Syrian city of Hasaka on June 24 led to further mass displacement, including of Assyrian Christian families, some of whom had sought refuge there in February.
Christian leaders in the Middle East are now calling for renewed and urgent prayers for peace. Some feel frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of support from the church in the West. Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad recently said, 'We feel forgotten and isolated.'
Pray that Pastor Dhiya Aziz will be released soon. Pray to Almighty God that there will be an end to the violence and bloodshed in the Middle East.
(Sources: Middle East Concern; World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission)
As recently as Saturday an Iraqi Franciscan priest, Dhiya Aziz, was abducted by militants in Yacoubieh, Idlib province, in north-west Syria. The area is under the control of Jabhat an-Nusra, a group with links to al-Qaeda.
Advances by Islamic State militants in the north-eastern Syrian city of Hasaka on June 24 led to further mass displacement, including of Assyrian Christian families, some of whom had sought refuge there in February.
Christian leaders in the Middle East are now calling for renewed and urgent prayers for peace. Some feel frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of support from the church in the West. Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad recently said, 'We feel forgotten and isolated.'
Pray that Pastor Dhiya Aziz will be released soon. Pray to Almighty God that there will be an end to the violence and bloodshed in the Middle East.
(Sources: Middle East Concern; World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission)
RSS Feed