Fabrice Balanche is a leading Syria expert and a member of CSI’s Board of Advisers. CSI-Germany: In March 2025, the new Islamist authorities in Syria carried out indiscriminate attacks on Alawites in coastal areas, killing thousands. The Alawite massacre came three months after a coalition of rebel groups headed by the jihadist HTS overthrew Syria’s… Read more »
YEREVAN – The government of Azerbaijan on Wednesday released four Armenians taken hostage during its 2020-2023 military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh. The news was announced by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. “Gevorg Sujyan, Davit Davtyan, Vicken Euljeckjian, and Vagif Khachatryan were handed over by the representatives of the relevant bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan on… Read more »
The burned out market in Kasuwan Daji, Niger: X 2025 ended and 2026 began in Nigeria with a series of deadly attacks across northern and central Nigeria that instilled fear in rural Christian communities. Dozens were killed and hundreds displaced in the violence that also saw churches damaged and houses destroyed. Media attributed the… Read more »
Syrian government forces enter the Ashrafiya neighborhood of Aleppo after days of fighting with Kurdish forces – January 8, 2026. (Photo: Levant 24). Beginning on January 4, heaving fighting erupted in Aleppo city between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The fighting has forced tens of thousands of Syrians to flee their… Read more »
Raymond Koh, a Christian pastor, led humanitarian efforts serving poor and marginalized communities in Malaysia prior to his abduction. facebook A Malaysian court has ruled that state police were responsible for the 2017 enforced disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh, a Christian leader abducted in broad daylight in an incident captured on CCTV. Nearly eight… Read more »
Speakers at the launch of the Swiss Peace Initiative in Bern in May, left to right: Erich Vontobel, Sarkis Shahinian, Vartan Oskanian, Joel Veldkamp. csi Nigeria: Escalating massacres of Christians draw international attention In November, U.S. President Trump put Nigeria back on the list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom (it had been… Read more »
Bagrat Galstanyan is Armenia’s most outspoken cleric. @SrbazanBagrat/X On June 25 this year, Armenian authorities arrested Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, an outspoken critic of the prime minister, along with 12 of his associates and employees of his diocese. He was the first of several high-ranking clergy to be imprisoned by the Armenian government in 2025…. Read more »
Natalie Khalil speaks out about the imprisonment of her father Suleiman Khalil (pictured) in Syria. sami alkayial on youtube In an interview conducted in Arabic by Syrian author Sami Alkayial, Natalie Khalil, 21, spoke for the first time to a Syrian audience about her father Suleiman’s detention by Syria’s new rulers and what it… Read more »
Anwar Kenneth still fears for his life, despite no longer being on death row. csi Pakistani Christian Anwar Kenneth, who was falsely charged with blasphemy and sentenced to death in 2001, has sent an audio message to Christian Solidarity International (CSI) to mark the first Christmas following his release from jail in October. In… Read more »
Families flee the Shaykh Maqsoud neighborhood of Damascus after the bombardments on December 22. Source: Free Syrian News Network. On Monday, December 22, 2025, armed clashes erupted in Aleppo between the Syrian government army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with intense fighting reported between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Exchanges of artillery… Read more »
