The terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are reportedly holding hundreds of women captive inside school buildings in various cities under their control.
A spokesman for Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry says that the women are all below the age of 35 and are mostly in the city of Mosul. The kidnapping and captivity of the women is being reported to the Ministry through relatives who have escaped the terrorist group.
“We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them,” Kamil Amin told The Associated Press. “We think that these women are going to be used in demeaning ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contradicts all the human and Islamic values.”
A U.S. official who spoke under condition of anonymity said that U.S. intelligence has confirmed the captivity of the women and that they are being placed into forced marriages with terrorist fighters.
One Iraqi lawmaker who escaped the region said that some of the women have been sold in the public square “in a slavery market.”
All U.S. airlines are now required to have authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration or another U.S. governmental agency before flying in the airspace above Iraq.
All flights are prohibited “due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict” according to the agency.
The announcement came after two airstrikes that targeted the Islamic State militants outside of Erbil.
Officials stated that the FAA’s ban will be reevaluated by the end of the year.
“Today, America is coming to help,” President Obama stated after authorizing airstrikes in northern Iraq against the Islamic State.
After weeks of weighing options, the administration took action due to the unrelenting progress of the Islamic extremists and the mounting humanitarian crisis.
The most recent crisis involves the Yazidis, a small religious minority, who are currently trapped on a mountaintop after fleeing their homes and are surrounded by Islamic militants. The United States has made several airdrops containing food and water to the thousands of trapped Yazidis, but only recently took action against the surrounding Islamic militants.
Despite a deeper involvement in the conflict, President Obama assured the public that it would not lead to U.S. involvement in a ground war in Iraq.
On Thursday night, President Obama authorized U.S. military action against the Sunni extremist advance on the Kurdish capital of Erbil leading to the first of many strikes that hit Islamic State artillery positions in northern Iraq.
Five hundred pound bombs were dropped by U.S. F-18 fighters just outside of Erbil according to the Pentagon.
President Obama claims the goal of these strikes is to stop militants from seizing Erbil and aiding the Yazidis, a religious minority.
Washington has considered direct military involvement in the past, but has delayed action for two reasons: the slowing of the Sunni militants advance in the past and to pressure Iraqi lawmakers to form a new government that might counter the militants.
Tens of thousands of Christians fled northern cities Thursday as the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria launched an offensive into Christian communities in the mostly autonomous Kurdish region.
The assault was so significant that Kurdish fighters who were protecting the Christian villages were forced to flee with the residents.
“The Nineveh plain yesterday was emptied of its people,” Tal Keif Mayor Bassem Bello told the Wall Street Journal. “There is not a Christian town left standing.”
Bello said that 30,000 Christian residents of the city fled overnight toward cities further into the Kurdish region hoping to find protection by Kurdish militia.
The terrorist group has been on a roll of successful attacks since they overran the defenses of the city of Mosul in early June. The group has been taking surrounding towns, destroying churches and any buildings or emblems of Christianity or Judiasm. They also issued commands to any residents remaining in the communities to convert to Islam or be killed.
The insurgents posted videos online of destroying Christians and Jewish homes while shouting “allahu akbar.”
A Lebanese TV station has added the Arabic letter “N” to their name as a show of solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Iraq.
A news anchor that wore a T-shirt during an evening newscast emblazoned with the letter made the announcement. Arabic language speakers pronounce the letter “N” as “noon”.
“From Mosul to Beirut, we are all Noon,” anchor Dima Sadeq said. “We are all targets to be pointed at with a finger or a sword because we’re different, whether in terms of sex, religion or color of our skin. We are all targets of murder in this insane era. The era of radicals, dictatorships and Israel’s hatred. Only here [in the region,] are children killed on beaches, churches closed down, mosques raided, shrines of prophets destroyed.”
Viewers of the TV station flooded phone lines and websites with positive responses.
The letter has become a symbol of solidarity with Christians in Iraq because the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria sprays the letter on the homes and businesses of Christians. The letter was chosen because it’s the first letter in Nazarene, the term they use for followers of Christ.
The exodus of Christians from the northern parts of Iraq has reached levels that some major cities have virtually no Christians left. The city of Mosul does not have a single operating church within its borders.
A Christian leader in Iraq says the disappearance of all Christians from Iraq is “very near.”
Canon Andrew White, the vicar of the only Anglican church left in Iraq, says that as Islamic terrorists continue their campaign against those of other faiths, the Christian population is fleeing for other nations.
“Are we seeing the end of Christianity? We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end, but it looks as though the end could be very near,” White told the Christian Post. “The Christians are in grave danger. There are literally Christians living in the desert and on the street. They have nowhere to go.”
The terrorists attempting to overthrow the Iraqi government killed 31 people in a homicide bomb attack last week. They’ve driven all but a few hundred Christians out of the city of Mosul, where the remainder has been forced to pay high taxes. However, worship in the city has ended.
“We have at least 25 churches in [Mosul],” Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph Ill Younan said. “All are abandoned. No more prayers, no services, no more Masses on Sundays in Mosul because no clergy, no people there that are Christian.”
The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria accepted responsibility for a homicide bombing in Baghdad that has left at least 31 people dead.
Another 58 people were injured in the blast, some very severely, and officials say it’s likely the death toll is going to rise.
Christian bishops in Iraq are now calling for the government to protect Christians who are being killed and driven out of their homes in masses. They’re calling for the government to also provide funding for the thousands of families suddenly displaced by Islamic extremists.
Over 35,000 Christians have been forced to flee the city of Mosul after ISIS threatened to kill them unless they convert to Islam or pay a huge fine. Many of them have fled to Baghdad, where ISIS targets them in attacks.
Christian relief group World Compassion estimates at least 750,000 Christians have been forced to leave their homes since the Islamists began their campaign in northern Iraq.
Christians are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul after the Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a “convert or die” order in the city.
The edict says that by Saturday all Christians in the city must convert to Islam, pay a large fine or be killed according to a statement read in mosques throughout the city.
“Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil,” Patriarch Louis Sako told AFP news agency. “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”
Islamists have been going through the city marking the homes of Christians for easy identification.
Mosul reportedly contained around 35,000 Christians when the Islamic terrorist group launched their campaign to take over Iraq. Churches throughout the city have been ransacked and their possessions taken or burned.
The Islamists have also destroyed Christian or Jewish shrines or artifacts within the city, including the tomb of the Prophet Jonah.
The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has destroyed the tomb of the Prophet Jonah.
The terrorists gleefully went into the tomb with sledgehammers and took turns destroying the resting place of the Old Testament prophet. The terrorists filmed their efforts and posted them online saying it was the will of Allah for the tombs to be destroyed.
The members of the terrorist group say it is against the teachings of Islam to give special attention to tombs and it doesn’t matter if the tomb is for another faith. If the tomb is within their land, the group says they have the right to destroy it.
The tomb of the prophet Seth was also destroyed by the terrorists but no video of that destruction was posted online.
Iraqi authorities also announced the discovery of 53 bodies south of Baghdad who appear to have been executed by Islamic terrorists. An investigation is underway to determine who ordered the killings.