At the beginning of 2019, the IMES team would like to thank you for accompanying us on our journey over the past year through the various countries of the MENA region. We are preparing for new tours, which we begin today. We always examine critical issues facing the region through a Biblical lens and reflect on possible Missiological implications. Our issues in this month’s Regional Brief come from Iraq, where Evangelical churches are facing persecution by historic churches, many of which feel under attack themselves, from Morocco where the first initiative by Yemeni refugees was launched to serve the community, and from Lebanon, where all the political promises have failed to offer new hope but where we hold on to the truth that God will always be our only stronghold, from South Sudan which is hoping to achieving peace and reconciliation at the grassroots level after all the political promises have failed to do so thus far, and from Palestine whose people are living in exile, at home and abroad.