Middle East

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungary has urged the European Union and the NATO military alliance to help protect the Christian community in Iraq as hundreds of thousands of believers are fleeing Islamic State militants.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service BAGHDAD, IRAQ (BosNewsLife)-- Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians faced an unprecedented crisis Saturday, August 9, after fleeing Islamic militants who overran towns and villages in northern Iraq, while U.S. warplanes carried out air strikes in an attempt to halt the violent Islamists.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos BAGHDAD, IRAQ (BosNewsLife)-- Friends expressed relief Wednesday, July 16, after five Christians, including two nuns and three orphans, were released in Iraq by Islamic militants, but concern remained about the future of Iraq's dwindling Christian community.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Authorities in northern Iran have detained a pastor and two other members of the Church of Iran, one of the country's largest house church movements, fellow Christians said Tuesday, July 8. Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, Mohammad Roghangir and Suroush Saraie were arrested July 5 by security forces at the pastor’s home in the city of Bandar-Anzali, well-informed sources said.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service BAGHDAD/DAMASCUS (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians in Syria and neighboring Iraq faced more upheaval Monday, July 7, after an Islamic group expelled tens of thousands of residents from their homes and crucified at least nine people.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)-- An influential Jewish rights organization says the killing of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers should prompt the United States to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to end his cooperation with Hamas, the militant group. The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) made the appeal shortly after Israeli authorities confirmed they found the bodies of Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service CAIRO, EGYPT (BosNewsLife)-- An Egyptian journalist who captured video of clashes between Muslims and Christians, is appealing the five-years prison sentence he received on charges of "inciting sectarianism", Christians and his lawyer say.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- A pastor of a leading evangelical denomination in Iran has been returned to prison after he was beaten and disappeared earlier this month, Christians and activists confirmed Thursday, June 26.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service BAGHDAD, IRAQ (BosNewsLife)-- Thousands of Christians and other residents began fleeing Mosul on Tuesday, May 10, after Islamic militants overran much of Iraq's second largest city, "killing hundreds" while seizing churches and government buildings.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iran's feared Ministry of Intelligence and National Security (VEVAK) has summoned the pastor of an evangelical congregation amid a wider crackdown on devoted Christians in the strict Islamic nation, a well-informed source told BosNewsLife Monday, June 9.