Schools and public institutions were shut in north Syria's Aleppo on Wednesday, as sporadic clashes between government troops and Kurdish-led forces continued into their second day, according to state media.
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" -- Matthew 16:26 At the outset, I extend my sincerest congratulations and best wishes to the honorable members of parliament who won the Christian quota seats in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, representing our Chaldean--Syriac--Assyrian people, namely, MP...
(AINA) -- For 6775 years the Assyrians have been an indigenous population of Mesopotamia, with a continuous presence in what is today northern Iraq and the wider region. Our identity is not solely religious, nor is it a modern construct; it is rooted in a distinct history, language, culture, and collective memory that long predates contemporary political borders.
(AINA) -- The Simmele Massacre of 1933 was not an abstract tragedy. It was a crime committed against the Assyrian people by the Iraqi army, with the participation of local Kurdish forces, resulting in the mass killing, displacement, and terrorization of an indigenous nation in its own homeland. Any commemoration of this atrocity must begin with an honest acknowledgment of responsibility.
Four Assyrian political parties in Iraq have issued a statement concerning encroachments on the lands of Bakhetme village in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The four parties, being the Bethnahrin Patriotic Union (Huyodo d'Beth Nahrain Athroyo, HBA), Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party, Assyrian Democratic Movement, and Assyrian Patriotic Party, declare that despite repeated appeals since 1992, the...
Assyrians in Iraq are still awaiting Baghdad's formal recognition of the 1933 Simmele massacre as a genocide, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East Mar Awa III said on Sunday. Related: The 1933 Massacre of Assyrians in Simmele, Iraq In a speech following a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Simmele massacre, Awa III described violence...
(AINA) -- The laying of a foundation stone for a memorial commemorating the Simmele Massacre by parties historically responsible for the massacre itself is not an act of reconciliation, it is an act of moral violence. It represents a deliberate attempt to appropriate Assyrian suffering while stripping it of truth, responsibility, and justice.
In a solemn moment of remembrance in the town of Simmele, the laying of the foundation stone for the Assyrian Martyrs Monument brought renewed attention to the 1933 genocide, as the Assyrian Patriarch publicly thanked the Kurdistan Regional Government and President Masoud Barzani for supporting the project.
Not only war but also a U.S. prioritization of the Kurdistan Regional Government's stability over decades has accelerated the displacement of Assyrians. Churches remain open, Assyrians celebrate holidays publicly, and Kurdish officials highlight Assyrian neighborhoods as evidence of coexistence. Yet despite this visibility, Assyrian communities continue to shrink.
The foundation stone for a memorial commemorating the victims of the Simmele Massacre was laid this week in the town of Simmele, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), in a ceremony attended by senior Kurdish and Christian leaders.
In an era when history is increasingly consumed through short videos, algorithms and fleeting online trends, a group of young Assyrian activists in Germany is attempting something both ambitious and quietly radical: to restore a long-marginalized history to the digital public square, without mythmaking or ideology.
Under the patronage of President Masoud Barzani and His Holiness Patriarch Mar Awa III, head of the Assyrian Church of the East, the Kurdistan Region will lay the foundation stone for a memorial commemorating the Simmele Massacre. The ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, January 4, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. local time in the Directorate of Culture in Simmele town, Duhok province.
(AINA) -- Dr. Sophia Isaac is a scholar, educator, and cultural advocate whose own life reflects the very journey she studies. Born in Urmia, Iran, and brought to the United States as a child before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, she grew up navigating the space between two identities--Assyrian heritage and American life.
(AINA) -- For three decades the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) has served as one of the most influential and authoritative voices documenting the life, heritage, and challenges of Assyrians and their Syriac-speaking Churches, both in the homeland and the diaspora. AINA is a privately funded, independent news agency founded by Peter Pnuel BetBasoo and Firas Jatou in 1995.
(AINA) -- The Assyrian Arts Institute (AAI) is an organization founded by Nora Betyousef Lacey in 2017 and claims to support Assyrian arts. AAI has sponsored a few events since its founding, including an Assyrian women's choir.
(AINA) -- On July 12 Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid repealed the decree recognizing the appointment of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and which appointed him to the office of the waqf (وقف), the endowment which oversees all church property. The details of the events leading up to this action are exhaustively covered in this report by MEMRI.
(AINA) -- For 6775 years the Assyrians have been an indigenous population of Mesopotamia, with a continuous presence in what is today northern Iraq and the wider region. Our identity is not solely religious, nor is it a modern construct; it is rooted in a distinct history, language, culture, and collective memory that long predates contemporary political borders.
(AINA) -- The Simmele Massacre of 1933 was not an abstract tragedy. It was a crime committed against the Assyrian people by the Iraqi army, with the participation of local Kurdish forces, resulting in the mass killing, displacement, and terrorization of an indigenous nation in its own homeland. Any commemoration of this atrocity must begin with an honest acknowledgment of responsibility.
Kochi, India -- As the Yuletide spirit fills the air, posters, cutouts and dolls of Santa Claus crop up everywhere, heralding the season of love and sharing. However, not many may know that Santa, the most popular symbol of Christmas, is inspired from and modelled after St Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop from Myra in ancient Turkey known for his generosity and secret gift-giving.
Archaeologists in northern Israel uncover a luxurious Iron Age cremation burial, revealing elite lifestyles, long-distance trade, and Assyrian influence thousands of years ago. For a long time, life in the ancient world has been imagined as harsh, modest, and largely deprived of luxury.