U.S. bypasses UN to bring aid to persecuted groups in Iraq

IRAQ: In a reversal of U.S. policy from the Obama era, Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday the United States “will no longer rely on the United Nations to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups.” The long-awaited reversal came in a keynote address by Pence in Washington for the group In Defense of Christians. Housing and other relief for those groups has relied entirely on church and private aid groups since the 2014 ISIS takeover. A concerted effort to redirect existing U.S. funds has been underway since President Donald Trump came into office and key areas of Iraq have been liberated from the terrorist group. “We will look for other avenues in which to more efficiently fund these types of religious minorities so that they can eventually return back home,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said.

Friday is International Religious Freedom Day.

IRAQI KURDISTAN: Iraqi forces with Iranian-backed militias clashed Thursday with Kurdish peshmerga north of Mosul at a strategic border crossing with Syria. Kurds called the advances from the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces, “unprovoked” and reported two U.S. tanks destroyed and 100 militia members killed or injured in the clashes. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and later spoke by phone with Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani Thursday in an effort to resolve the crisis. In short, Iran is using the internal dispute to extend its control over Iraq and its corridor of influence from Iran through Syria.

Jaafer al-Husseini, a spokesman for Hezbollah in Iraq, in a statement said militias “are an Iranian tool and part of the axis of resistance” and called on “foreigners and occupiers,” a reference to U.S. forces, to leave an area “extending from Iran to Iraq, Syria and Yemen.”

NIGER: The 17-year-old daughter of a pastor kidnapped in southeastern Niger appears to be the first targeted kidnapping of a Christian by Boko Haram–affiliated militants as clashes increase in the West African nation.

U.S. Intelligence officers believed the Oct. 4 reconnaissance mission of U.S. Green Berets posed little risk, until they came under assault. Four Green Berets died in the ISIS-affiliated ambush, two were wounded, and five Nigerien soldiers also were killed. The mission may have been unauthorized, one reason for lag in air cover and surveillance. Trump’s reaction/non-reaction to the Niger attack (timeline here) turned it into a political controversy, but important military questions remain: Do Nigerien military units contain ISIS-affiliated elements? What rules of engagement are elite U.S. forces operating under in the region? And how transparent will the Trump administration be about military missions around the world?

SAUDI ARABIA: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Tuesday he would like to see the kingdom return to “a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions.”

KENYA: Turnout has been poor in a rerun election after opposition candidate Raila Odinga called on his supporters to boycott the polls.

REFORMATION: On the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, immigrant-led churches in Europe are leading the way on church growth. See WORLD’s Reformation Day coverage here.

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