Under Iraq's 2005 constitution,[1] Islam is the official state religion and a "source of legislation". According to Article 2(1), nothing may contradict Islam, the principles of democracy, or constitutionally recognised rights and freedoms. Article 2(2) provides that the Islamic identity of most Iraqis and the religious rights of Christians, Yazidis, and Sabean-Mandeans are equally protected.
The ancient Assyrian capital of Nimrud is speaking again. From beneath a landscape fractured by modern war, archaeologists have uncovered what may be the clearest surviving image of Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war, etched into a star-shaped stone fragment buried in the ruins of her temple.
I was recently in Yerevan, Armenia, sitting among a crowd gathered for European Heritage Days 2025 and the Day of National Minorities in Armenia. The air was alive with color and music. On stage, the Assyrian folk group Atour performed three traditional dances--children and teenagers dressed in shimmering costumes, their movements rhythmic and proud.
Rome -- Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has released the 2025 edition of its Religious Freedom in the World Report, a comprehensive survey covering 196 countries and assessing the legal and social conditions affecting the practice of religion.
Social groups dominate public discourse. The news, social media, scientific reports, and everyday conversations all refer to groups of every kind: women, conservatives, Muslims, immigrants, Nigerians, lawyers, and a virtually endless list of others. In their own contexts, each of these categories makes sense. We know, roughly, whom each term describes.
Syria, which is at the heart of a new Middle East, has become a battleground where different forces compete for gains and losses, for victory or defeat. After their seizure of power, the jihadist groups led by Ahmed al-Sharaa suffered major losses domestically because of the numerous crimes they committed in various regions of the country.
(BBC) Ancient cultures had vastly different interpretations of the dramatic natural phenomenon. In the days after a Jacobite uprising was quashed in England in 1716, strange lights were seen streaking across the night skies. They were variously described as looking like "pure flame", "something resembling the pipes of an organ", and a "shower of blood".
Rome -- Responding to growing international reports documenting rising attacks on Christians worldwide -- particularly in the Middle East and Africa -- Pope Leo XIV used the Angelus prayer during Sunday Mass on 16 November to draw attention to the harsh realities facing many Christian communities, speaking of the continued discrimination and persecution they endure.
(AINA) -- The recent decision by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Region of North and East Syria (DAARNES) to officially incorporate the Assyrian language into its website marks a significant milestone for cultural representation, linguistic rights, and digital inclusion.
Patriarch of the Chaldean Church Mar Louis Raphaël Sako issued a statement, on 13 November, calling on the Assyrians to unite their voice. This urgent patriarchal call comes against the backdrop of parliamentary elections held earlier this week.
During a recent visit to Iraq with an Assyrian-American delegation, we met with members of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including the Minister of Investment, Dr. Mohammad Shukri. Our discussions focused on the Kurdistan Region's forward-looking investment laws and the immense potential for diaspora-led economic engagement.
The Assyrian language is one of the oldest living Semitic languages and forms the cornerstone of the identity of the Assyrian people. In Iraq, the government of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) has shown notable commitment to preserving this linguistic and cultural heritage by incorporating Assyrian into school curricula within full Assyrian-language instruction at educational institutions.
(AINA) -- The recent decision by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Region of North and East Syria (DAARNES) to officially incorporate the Assyrian language into its website marks a significant milestone for cultural representation, linguistic rights, and digital inclusion.
(AINA) -- Dr. Sabro Bengaro is the Director of the Assyrian Genocide Research Center. His recently completed dissertation, titled Germany's Islamic Strategy During the First World War and the Impact of the Jihad Declaration on the Assyrian Genocide of 1915, at the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas, examines, among other things, the German Empire's Islamic...
(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) -- Iraq today faces a deep and troubling challenge، the escalating influence of Iran within its political, security, and economic institutions. Once a nation striving to restore its sovereignty and rebuild after decades of war and suffering, Iraq has become an open arena for foreign agendas.
(AINA) -- The reopening of the Egyptian Museum stands as a powerful symbol of cultural rebirth and national pride. Egypt, one of the world's oldest civilizations, has long recognized that the preservation of its heritage is not merely an act of remembrance--it is an act of self-affirmation.
(BBC) Ancient cultures had vastly different interpretations of the dramatic natural phenomenon. In the days after a Jacobite uprising was quashed in England in 1716, strange lights were seen streaking across the night skies. They were variously described as looking like "pure flame", "something resembling the pipes of an organ", and a "shower of blood".
The earliest form of the signature came from ancient Iraq in the form of cylinder seals. Mesopotamians, the ancient inhabitants of the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, are credited for many firsts in human history, including writing, urbanism and the state. Among these inventions, cylinder seals are perhaps the most distinctive but least known.