ISIS destroyed thousands of Christian homes, ruined 120 religious sites in Mosul

تاريخ تاريخ النشر 26/01/2019
Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq’s Christians no longer see the Nineveh Plains as the safe heaven they once were, according to the governor of Mosul’s former advisor on Christian affairs.

ISIS militants captured swathes of Nineveh province in 2014 and obliged its Christian population to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or leave Mosul. The majority opted for the third choice, although they didn’t escape ISIS rule unharmed.

“ISIS militants destroyed thousands of Christian houses in the province of Mosul and ruined 120 churches and Christian shrines,” said Durayed Hikmat, who advised the governor of Mosul on Christian affairs for eight years.

The renovation of these properties will cost more than 15 billion dinars, Hikmat estimated.

“ISIS militants kidnapped more than 100 Christians in the Hamdanya area when they came to Mosul and its surrounding areas – only 20 of them escaped, 55 were killed, and the fate of 25 more is unknown,” Hikmat said.

“Some of the Christians who were captured were women,” he added.

“After ISIS was defeated, we tried to get some information about them. Some of them were sent to Syria and we think they are still there.”

According to unofficial figures, there were as many as 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 1980s, mostly living in Baghdad, Mosul, Duhok, Erbil, Kirkuk, and Basra. But their number has been dwindling in recent years owing to consecutive conflicts. Many of them emigrated to Europe and North America.

According to these figures, there currently are 250,000 to 300,000 Christians remaining in Iraq – the majority living in the Kurdistan Region.

“Mosul is an important city to Christians where there are many Christian archeological sites. But ISIS destroyed most of them,” Hikmat said.

“Half of the number of Christian IDPs in the Kurdistan Region have decided not to return to Mosul. They have found jobs here and sent their children to Kurdistan schools,” he said.

“So far, 16,000 Christian families have returned, mostly returning to Hamdanya. Only 40 families returned to the city of Mosul, who later returned to the Kurdistan Region because of the hardship they faced upon their return,” Hikmat added.