ICC Note: The Christian population in Iraq has experienced a dramatic drop of 80% within the last few decades. The most recent decline began in July 2014, when ISIS rolled through the Nineveh Plains. Christians were left with the choice to either flee, or risk enslavement or death. Although ISIS no longer controls the Plains, the area remains insecure and severely damaged. Furthermore, the ideology of ISIS continues to pose a threat to any Christian who may otherwise wish to return home.

03/21/2018 Iraq (AINA) – In the Nineveh Plains, only a third of the Christian population that was driven by ISIS from their homes nearly four years ago has returned. A traumatized community is struggling to overcome the daunting reality of rebuilding an area left in a post-apocalyptic state.

An area that is still insecure.

Years ago, Iraq was home to one of the Middle East’s most robust Christian communities. They numbered 1.4 million at the beginning of the 21st century. Today fewer than 250,000 Christians remain in the country–a near 80 percent drop.

Like the Yezidis, a distinct religious minority in Iraq, the Christians have suffered massive atrocities at the hands of ISIS. Both the Trump and Obama administrations officially recognized that ISIS bore responsibility for genocide against these populations.

In late July 2014, ISIS commanded the Christians to “leave or be killed.” There could be no mistake: ISIS aimed to erase the Christians from its caliphate in northern Iraq. It struck a Christian community that was already extremely fragile, having faced severe persecution throughout the previous decade.

ISIS terrorists waged a bloody blitz through Iraq’s Nineveh province, including its capital of Mosul, where Christian homes were stamped with the red Arabic letter “n” for “Nazarene,” and throughout the Christian towns of the Nineveh Plains. Their assault on the Plains included crucifying, beheading, raping, kidnapping, torturing, and enslaving people. ISIS drove out every member of the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community.

Monasteries and churches were burned and destroyed–45 churches in Mosul alone. In January 2016, satellite imagery showed the complete obliteration of Mosul’s massive, stone-walled monastery of St. Elijah, which dates back to the 6th century. The photos confirm reports that the monastery had been pulverized into gray dust by ISIS fanatics, evidently using a determined application of sledgehammers, bulldozers, and explosives.

ISIS’ international propaganda magazine Dabiq, threatened: “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women.” The cover photo showed St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City with a black flag replacing the cross atop its dome. The terrorist organization claims that it offered an option to Nineveh’s Christians to live peacefully under its control, a so-called “jizya” or tax option. This proved to be false–a publicity stunt to appear more caliph-like, according to former State Department counter-terrorism adviser Ambassador Alberto Fernandez. By the time ISIS consolidated its power over Nineveh in August 2014, there were no functioning churches, priests, pastors, or intact Christian communities remaining.

The ancient Christian presence had been all but eradicated.

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