ASIA/IRAQ – Air raids hit areas adjacent to two churches in Mosul

Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - Air raids carried out to attack the positions of the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS), who have settled in Mosul, have heavily damaged buildings adjacent to two churches in the eastern area of the Iraqi city. The news was reported to Fides Agency by local sources in contact with the information website in Arabic www.ankawa.com. According to sources contacted, on the night of Tuesday, September 9 air operations attributed to the regular army in Iraq targeted military districts of jihadi militias concentrated in the vicinity of the Syrian Catholic Church of St. Paul and of the Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Ephrem, in so-called " police district". Already at the end of June, the church of Saint Ephrem was occupied and looted by militias of the Islamic State, who had hoisted their flag on the building and removed the holy cross from the dome. In the days after the fall of Mosul in the hands of the jihadists of IS and insurgents, which took place on June 9, groups of Muslims had guarded the churches to try to defend them from being looted, after the majority of Christians had already fled the city. In July, fire had been set to the episcopal building of Syrian Catholics. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 11/09/2014)