- By James Kravitz
- (General Dispatch) – Iraq’s persecuted Christians are trying to return to their former homes after the fall of the caliphate, even though they are in ruins or have been victims of theft, provoked by Muslim militias and swindlers, yet they intend to settle again after fleeing three years ago.
- Being one of the largest Christian communities in the country, Iraq has been composed of Catholics, Chaldeans, Assyrians and others, where they have been able to develop their beliefs until they were affected by the Islamic State in 2014, where the jihadist group tried to exterminate Christians to raise a caliphate.
- Cities such as Mosul were severely affected after the Islamic State lost control in 2017, the explosives left behind have leveled entire neighborhoods, apart from these the battles both on the ground and in the air further damaged the infrastructures.
- The Christians who returned to Mosul is a small number compared to the number that existed before the ISIS attack, people comment that their homes were left uninhabitable and without any support from the Iraqi government to rebuild them and live with their families.
- A report issued by Agence France-Presse comments “Fleeing war or threats of persecution, Iraqi Christians left thousands of homes in recent years and returned to find them occupied by militiamen or secretly sold using fabricated facts.”
- Many of the events, according to Agence France-Presse, occurred in Baghdad near Mosul, where there is a Shiite population as well as most of Iraq’s politicians. Baghdad legalized a coalition called PMF which was a group that fought against the Islamic State, for this reason some of the militiamen settled in Mosul.
- AFP reports that Iraqi politicians have returned 26500 stolen homes to their rightful owners.
- In other parts of Iraq, it has been complex for Christians living in areas that may be subject to aerial invasions. In Duhok, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) groups have asked the terrorist group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to vacate some areas where they were targeted by the Islamic State.
Adittional Information:
Breitbart: Iraq’s Christians Struggling to Reclaim Stolen Homes Years After ISIS Defeat
Pri Org: Iraq’s Christians fear no one can protect them from the Islamic State
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