Akitu, the Assyrian New Year, is one of the oldest and most beautiful traditions, and it was celebrated in full swing this year in Iraq. On April 1, 2025, the streets of Duhok were alive with color, music, and joy as locals and visitors gathered to mark the beginning of spring and the start of a fresh year.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) strongly condemns the attack that took place on 1 April 2025, targeting a gathering of Assyrian Christians in Duhok, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, during their celebration of "Akitu", the Assyrian-Babylonian New Year.
Authorities in Duhok, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, announced on Wednesday that the attack carried out by a Syrian national during a Christian celebration in the city was an "act of terrorism." On Tuesday, the attacker infiltrated a gathering of Syriac Christians celebrating the Akitu festival in central Duhok.
The assailant behind the attack on Akitu celebrations in Duhok has been identified as a member of ISIS, according to Ashur Sliwa Niqo, a senior official in the Assyrian Democratic Movement. Niqo called for a public trial of the perpetrator, who reportedly shouted ISIS slogans during the assault.
Mardin, Turkey -- Mardin, a city etched into the rocky hills of southeastern Türkiye, offers an unparalleled confluence of history, architecture and cultural depth. Perched along the ancient Silk Road, the settlement has been a meeting point for empires, a sanctuary for faiths and a canvas for architectural ingenuity.
(AP) -- The annual parade by Assyrian Christians in the Iraqi city of Dohuk to mark their new year was marred Tuesday when an axe-wielding man attacked the procession and wounded three people, witnesses and local officials said.
(AFP) -- Two people were injured on Tuesday in an attack on an Assyrian Christian celebration in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, officials said. The region's Asayesh police force said it was investigating the attack in the city of Dohuk and could not yet determine whether it was a "terrorist" act.
Duhok province in the Kurdistan Region hosted a major celebration on Tuesday for the Akitu festival, marking the Babylonian-Assyrian New Year 6775, drawing a large crowd of local and international attendees. The festive procession kicked off in front of the "Virgin Mary" Church in downtown Duhok, with participants marching along the main street to the celebration venue at the Mazi complex.
(AINA) -- The following lecture was delivered by Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo in Yerevan, Armenia. Dr. Al-Jeloo addresses the issue of the meaning of the Armenian word asori and the attempts of revisionist scholars to redefine the word so as not to mean Assyrian. ...
The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne will host a historic Evensong Service in the heart of Melbourne's CBD at St Paul's Cathedral on Sunday, 6 April 2025 to mark the 110th Anniversary of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.
"It's time to come back." This is the slogan of the NGO "The Return." A blue and white logo represents the paths of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, with the borders intentionally erased "to send a message of unity, without distinction between various communities, including Christians," explains Dilan. A Chaldean of Franco-Iraqi origin, Dilan is the founder of the project.
The Supreme head of the Syriac Orthodox Church anointed the new leader of their Church in India during a solemn ceremony in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on March 25. Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, the Patriarch of Syriac Orthodox Church, led the special ceremony in St Mary's Syrian Orthodox Cathedral to anoint Joseph Mor Gregorios as Catholicos, the head of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox...
(AINA) -- The following lecture was delivered by Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo in Yerevan, Armenia. Dr. Al-Jeloo addresses the issue of the meaning of the Armenian word asori and the attempts of revisionist scholars to redefine the word so as not to mean Assyrian. ...
(AINA) -- Assyrian leaders and advocates are sounding the alarm on escalating human rights violations in Iraq and Syria, where forced displacement, systemic discrimination, and cultural erasure continue unabated. As political disenfranchisement and targeted violence drive Assyrians from their ancestral lands, the urgent need for intervention grows stronger.
(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) -- 'Syria is free'; thus screamed the Syrians as they celebrated the tumbling down of the criminal regime during a whole week. Thousands, even millions, of Syrians strolled the streets of the entire major cities of Syria. They were from all societal segments, strata, trends, genders, religious beliefs and non-religious ones, convictions, sects, confessions, parties, and orientations.
(AINA) -- The collapse of the Syrian regime has added yet another chapter to the cycle of deep crises that perpetually plague the Middle East. Yet, these devastations increasingly render ancient peoples, burdened by the weight of historical memory, invisible.
Mardin, Turkey -- Mardin, a city etched into the rocky hills of southeastern Türkiye, offers an unparalleled confluence of history, architecture and cultural depth. Perched along the ancient Silk Road, the settlement has been a meeting point for empires, a sanctuary for faiths and a canvas for architectural ingenuity.
Saskatoon, Canada -- Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today, the StarPhoenix talks to Montha Istifo, who opened Star of Ishtar Restaurant last year in Sutherland.