Our friend, Father Ammar writes excitedly from Erbil, Iraq to tell us “the liberation of Mosul and our cities” – meaning the Christian towns and villages of the Nineveh Plain – “begins today (yesterday, October 17).” His report is confirmed by journalists in the region who also announced that the campaign to evict the Islamic State from Mosul has indeed begun. Father Ammar runs the Holy Family Center in Ainkawa, Iraq, which provides various social services to Christians-in-exile, such as diapers, formula, and other needs of infants. Father Ammar has been generously supported by the donors to Solidarity with the Persecuted Church.
After one day of fighting, the Iraqi Kurdish forces appear to be on the verge of liberating Bartella, one of the most significant Christian cities on the Nineveh Plain. We pray for the successful liberation of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, and we pray our donors will be generous in supporting the reconstruction of Christian Churches reclaimed from the Islamic State, and the Church’s provision of social services, such as medical assistance, to the initial wave of returnees.
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