Once home to one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East, Iraq today is in danger of losing Christianity completely. The Islamic State group forced thousands of Christians to flee after it stormed through the Nineveh Plains in 2014. Some have now returned, following IS’s military defeat. But even with IS gone, in many areas of Iraq daily life is governed by Sharia (Islamic law) and Muslims are forbidden to leave Islam.
Trump travel ban dints Iraqi Christians’ support
Iraqi Christians who backed the candidacy of Donald Trump have become disillusioned with his presidency since his executive order barred Iraqis, along with citizens of six other Muslim-majority countries, from entering the US. Many Iraqi minorities supported Trump because of his anti-Islamic State rhetoric. The Assyrian Church of the East’s […]
IS to cast long shadow over Iraqi civilians
Violence and deep division will continue to imperil Iraqi civilians long after Islamic State (IS) is driven out from the territory it captured, according to a lengthy dispatch from the devastated Iraqi city of Fallujah. After The Caliphate, published on BuzzFeed, quotes a senior official in Fallujah, Taleb al-Hosnawi, warning that […]
Iraqi Christian refugees protest against UNHCR resettlement delays
Dozens of Iraqi Christians in Lebanon protested in central Beirut this week, demanding the UN to grant them quicker resettlement abroad. Between 150 and 200 demonstrators gathered outside a UN building, carrying placards that read: “the future of our children is wasted” and “our only demand is to [go] […]
Iraqi Christian couple despair at sight of house IS destroyed
Almas and her husband, Hathem, stand inside the remains of their house, destroyed by IS, Jan 2017.World Watch Monitor Hathem and Almas are hoping to be among the first people to return to Karamles, a now-deserted town in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq. “This is our town, where […]
Video: Christians begin Qaraqosh clean-up
Now that their city has been liberated from Islamic State (IS) fighters, Christian families have begun cleaning up Qaraqosh in a bid to reclaim their lives in northern Iraq. One of the first jobs is removing IS graffiti, reports Al Jazeera English. “The writing on the wall is just superficial. It […]
Devastated northern Iraq needs ‘new Marshall Plan’ for reconstruction
The liberated town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plains, 21km east of Mosul, is today a picture of destruction.Open Doors The Archbishop of Erbil in northern Iraq, who is overseeing the care of thousands of displaced Christians who fled Islamic State jihadists, has announced ambitious plans for the Church […]
Cleaning up towns freed from IS ‘erases evidence of their crimes’
Dr. Sarah Ahmed at the cathedral in Qaraqosh, where IS appeared to have used mannequins looted from a local tailor’s to practise shooting.FRRME Efforts to clear villages liberated from Islamic State are undermining the possibility of recording the atrocities to people and heritage committed there, according to a leading […]
Sifting through the debris of IS’s destruction
The formerly Christian towns in northern Iraq liberated from Islamic State have been “destroyed” by jihadists who used a cathedral courtyard as a shooting range, according to a lawyer who visited them. Vienna-based legal counsel Ewelina Ochab, author of Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle […]
‘Many years’ before Mosul stable enough for Christians to return
Christians and other non-Sunni Muslims from Mosul, northern Iraq, waiting to return after their city’s liberation from Islamic State is completed, may have many years to wait, and their chances of doing so depend on the actions of the Iraqi Government, a leading researcher has warned. Iraqi forces man a […]
Christians ‘excluded’ from Iraq’s reconstruction plans
Christians are being excluded from the reconstruction plans for northern Iraq, further eroding the likelihood of their return once Islamic State has been militarily defeated there, an alliance of UK-based charities has warned. Iraqi Christians firmly believe that Iraq is their spiritual homeland; their presence dates back at least to […]