July 9, 2015
Please
pray for our brothers
and sisters in Syria and Iraq who are under mounting pressure from Islamist
extremists.
As recently as Saturday an Iraqi Franciscan priest, Dhiya Aziz, was
abducted by militants in Yacoubieh, Idlib province, in north-west Syria. The
area is under the control of Jabhat
an-Nusra, a group with links to al-Qaeda.
Advances by Islamic State militants in the north-eastern Syrian city of
Hasaka on June 24 led to further mass displacement, including of Assyrian
Christian families, some of whom had sought refuge there in February.
Christian leaders in the Middle East are now calling for renewed and
urgent prayers for peace. Some feel frustrated by what they perceive as a lack
of support from the church in the West. Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad recently
said, ‘We feel forgotten and isolated.’
Pray that Pastor Dhiya Aziz will be released soon. Pray to Almighty God
that there will be an end to the violence and bloodshed in the Middle
East.
(Sources: Middle East Concern; World Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission) Release Int.
.jpeg)