Page 80 - Arbil News Today

published : 1 Mar 2021 at 09:45 The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq. BAGHDAD: Pope Francis is to start the first-ever papal visit to Iraq on Friday, an act of solidarity with an ancient but dwindling Christian community and a symbolic outreach to Muslims. The trip comes as Iraq, ravaged by decades of conflict, faces a second deadly wave of coronavirus infections and renewed violence. Persecution has already slashe...

LONDON/ROME: No one knows how many Iraqi Christians will flock to witness the historic visit of Pope Francis to Iraq, for the simple reason that no one knows exactly how many of the faithful remain in a country that can trace its Christian roots back to the earliest days of the faith. Plagued by years of internal strife following the US-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has not conducted a census of its population since 1997. One planned for 2020, the year the coronavirus pandemic struck the world, wa...

Shrine city of Najaf As part of his outreach to Muslims, the Pope will visit Najaf, the 1,230-year-old city that is the spiritual capital of most Shiites around the world. Its imposing shrine - with a golden dome and intricate tiles inside - is the burial place of the Prophet Mohammeds son-in-law Ali, highly revered in Shiite Islam. The city was long under Ottoman rule, but during the First World War Britain took control, holding on despite a revolt by local clerics. Former Iraqi dictator Sadda...

Iraq's ancient Christian community, decimated by violence, fear

Iraq to get its first-ever papal visit with Pope Francis arrival on Friday World Mon, Mar 01, 2021 Roadside banners are erected welcoming Pope Francis in the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh (Baghdeda), in Nineveh province, some 30 kilometres from Mosul on February 24, 2021, amidst preparations ahead of the popes March visit to Iraq. Photo: AFP Pope Francis will land on Friday morning in Baghdad with a security team and a cohort of 75 journalists Pope Francis trip comes as Iraq faces a...

Syria slams US strike as bad omen for Biden administration Published on Share Syria on Friday condemned a deadly US air strike on Iran-backed militias in its far east as a bad omen from the administration of new US President Joe Biden. The US said it carried out the strikes overnight at a Syria-Iraq border control point used by Iran-backed groups, destroying “multiple facilities” in retaliation for a spate of rocket attacks targeting its troops in Iraq. A wa...

Pope Francis trip comes as Iraq faces a second deadly wave of coronavirus infections and renewed violence

The UN childrens agency called Sunday for all minors held in displacement camps or jails in northeast Syria to be allowed home.

President Joe Biden said on Friday that a US air strike against an Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria, the first since he took office, should be seen by Iran as a warning.

The US military launched an airstrike on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran-backed militia Thursday, in retaliation for recent rocket attacks on US troop locations in Iraq, the Pentagon said. "At President Biden's direction, US military forces earlier this evening conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria," said...