By : Jeremy Bender BI 

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan

ISIS's blitz across Iraq left many stunned this past summer, especially after the jihadist group captured Mosul, the country's second-largest city in June. 

The group's meteoric rise was unexpected and the organization continued to shock the world as the jihadists turned on fellow militants in Syria, executed western captives, and tried to wipe out Iraq's Yazidi religious minority.

To make sense of the organization, the Brookings Institution has released a short video documenting the history of the terrorist group. 

As the video recounts, the predecessor organization of ISIS was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who had previously fought alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Zarqawi, with support from bin Laden, traveled to Iraq to set up the al Qaeda in Iraq franchise.

By John Newton

Beirut, Lebanon, Dec 14, 2014 / 06:06 am (Aid to the Church in Need).- The leader of the Syriac Catholic Church has lashed out at Western governments, charging that they ignore the plight of displaced Christians in Iraq because they represent no economic stakes.

In an interview in the French capital with international charity Aid to the Church in Need, Patriarch Joseph III Younan of Antioch and All the East said the Western world had been largely silent about the situation facing Christians in northern Iraq. The international policy-makers, when it comes to minorities, have no policies to help those who have neither the numbers, nor the riches to make them attractive. And we have no oil – that is to say, we do not offer any economic advantages,” he said.

The prelate said he had come to “France and Europe to bring the voice of these communities who were persecuted, forced into exile and deprived of everything because of their Christian faith.” “Unfortunately the supposedly ‘civilized’ Western world is rather silent,” he added. Discussing the situation of displaced Christian families in Kurdistan, the Patriarch said their “morale has fallen very low. For months refugees have been living in this humanly unbearable situation – they have absolutely nothing. Winter has begun, and they don’t have help from humanitarian agencies, and sometimes they feel humiliated.”

By Elise Harris, Vatican City, Dec 13, 2014 / 04:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis addressed the increasing challenges caused by violence in the Middle East with members of the Syriac Catholic Church, urging them to work alongside other churches to find solutions. “Many have fled to seek shelter from an inhumanity that throws entire populations out into the streets, leaving them without any means of survival,” the Pope observed in his Dec. 12 address. Together with other churches, he said, “seek to coordinate your efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs, whether of those who remain in their homelands or of those who have sought refuge in other countries.”

Pope Francis gave his speech to His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patriarch of the Syro-Catholic Church, as well as the other syro-catholic bishops gathered in Rome for their Dec. 8-10 annual synod. In the meeting, which took place in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, the Pope greeted the entire Syro-Catholic community, and offered his particular support for those coming from Syria and Iraq. These communities, the Pope noted, “are living moments of great suffering and fear in the face of violence. And I accompany these sentiments of solidarity and compassion with remembrance and prayer.”

He commended the bishops and patriarch for their ongoing efforts to reform their Divine Liturgy, which he said requires an “intense appreciation” for tradition, as well as a great amount of thoughtful discernment.

  The signing of the final contracts for equipping the Lebanese army with French weapons might take place “next week in Beirut, …