Over the past year, the United States has taken steps to aid Christians driven from their homes in Iraq after ISIS swept through the region. Nevertheless, much remains to be done to rebuild the communities of Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities.
President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Tuesday that will help channel U.S. humanitarian and rebuilding assistance to Christians, Yazidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria who were the victims of ISIS genocide.
Programs to rebuild Iraqi Christian communities destroyed by Islamic State are being implemented with the support of $300 million from the United States.
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema told the Arizona Republic in 2003 that Americans should “feel compassion” for enemy combatants in Iraq.
Facebook said Friday it has taken steps to weaken an Iranian influence operation targeting internet users around the world after a Reuters investigation found the campaign is significantly more expansive than previously thought.
Iran’s regional allies and some European nations continue to form new plans to skirt a rash of upcoming sanctions on Tehran to keep the hardline regime afloat as protesters continue to push for regime change in the Islamic Republic, according to U.S. officials and experts.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is the latest regional official to oppose the new sanctions and throw his government’s support behind Iran as it works with regional allies and others to avoid a series of new sanctions by the Trump administration aimed at further squeezing Tehran’s economy and choking off funding for its terrorist forces.
The United States Agency for International Development is providing coalitions led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Heartland Alliance with $10 million to aid Christian and other minority communities in Iraq that suffered oppression and massacres under the Islamic State’s rule.
Vice President Mike Pence announced two weeks ago that the United States would intensify efforts to deliver aid to Iraqi Christians. Last October, Pence told a conference hosted by the nonprofit In Defense of Christians that America “will work hand in hand with faith-based groups and private organizations to help those who are persecuted for their faith.”
Incensed over bureaucratic attempts to thwart a direct White House executive order, Vice President Mike Pence is dispatching U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green to Iraq to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to help save Christian and Yazidi communities decimated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
