Globe Trot: ISIS martyrs 21 Assyrians in Qaryatain

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SYRIA: The Syriac Orthodox Church has published the names of 21 Assyrians killed by ISIS in Qaryatain. The Islamic militants captured the town last August, but it was recently retaken by Russian-backed Syrian forces. The men and three women—ranging in ages from 25 to 67, many from the same families—reportedly were murdered for breaking the terms of their “dhimmi contracts.”

“We lived this situation for centuries, we learned how to respect each other, we learned how to live with each other. … We can live together again, if we are left alone by others,” Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II told the BBC.

I’m listing the names below, because these appear to have died explicitly for their faith—and sometimes names mean more than numbers.

Hani Moussa Khazaal, 25 George Al-Khazaal, 31 Jalal Al-Gharib, 30 Hani Afif Khazaal, 27 Fadi Moussa Maher, 45 Faheed Yaacoub Khazaal, 66 Wadad Mtanous Malghouj, 67 Nassim Moussa Khazaal, 42 Wassim Moussa Khazaal, 40 Moutazz Moussa Khazaal, 39 William Fayez Al-Khoury, 33 George Ibrahim Al-Gharib, 44 Ibrahim Zaghir Al-Gharib, 73 Gergess Zaghir Al-Gharib, 66 Mourfaq Ibrahim Khalaf, 49 Rafic Ibrahim Khalaf, 52 Fadi Salim Atallah, 47 Awad Nadim Atallah, 53 Abdo Hassib Al-Khoury, 42 Ziad Farah, 49 Bashar Abdelkarim Al-Sattah, 34

GREECE: The leaders of the Greek and Eastern Orthodox churches joined Pope Francis in an emotional plea for humanitarian treatment of refugees. From the island of Lesbos, Francis intervened to bring three Syrian families to the Vatican in a show of sympathy to the refugees as European attitudes harden and some countries have taken steps to deport them.

Sudan, whose leader is wanted for war crimes, is becoming an alternate destination for Syrians desperate to escape civil war.

BRAZIL: Parliament voted Sunday night to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. She’s accused of manipulating government accounts to fashion a budget surplus, boosting her reelection efforts. The House speaker leading the impeachment proceedings himself is implicated in the Panama Papers for receiving bribes.

TURKEY: American evangelist David Byle, held for two days without charges and facing deportation, has been released.

CONGO: Links may be emerging in the Panama Papers to Clinton Foundation donations.

Mindy Belz

Mindy, a former senior editor for WORLD Magazine, wrote the publication’s first cover story in 1986. She has covered wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Balkans and is author of They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run From ISIS With Persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Mindy resides in Asheville, N.C.

@MindyBelz