Tens of thousands of Christians fled northern cities Thursday as the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria launched an offensive into Christian communities in the mostly autonomous Kurdish region.
The assault was so significant that Kurdish fighters who were protecting the Christian villages were forced to flee with the residents.
“The Nineveh plain yesterday was emptied of its people,” Tal Keif Mayor Bassem Bello told the Wall Street Journal. “There is not a Christian town left standing.”
Bello said that 30,000 Christian residents of the city fled overnight toward cities further into the Kurdish region hoping to find protection by Kurdish militia.
The terrorist group has been on a roll of successful attacks since they overran the defenses of the city of Mosul in early June. The group has been taking surrounding towns, destroying churches and any buildings or emblems of Christianity or Judiasm. They also issued commands to any residents remaining in the communities to convert to Islam or be killed.
The insurgents posted videos online of destroying Christians and Jewish homes while shouting “allahu akbar.”
A Christian leader in Iraq says the disappearance of all Christians from Iraq is “very near.”
Canon Andrew White, the vicar of the only Anglican church left in Iraq, says that as Islamic terrorists continue their campaign against those of other faiths, the Christian population is fleeing for other nations.
“Are we seeing the end of Christianity? We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end, but it looks as though the end could be very near,” White told the Christian Post. “The Christians are in grave danger. There are literally Christians living in the desert and on the street. They have nowhere to go.”
The terrorists attempting to overthrow the Iraqi government killed 31 people in a homicide bomb attack last week. They’ve driven all but a few hundred Christians out of the city of Mosul, where the remainder has been forced to pay high taxes. However, worship in the city has ended.
“We have at least 25 churches in [Mosul],” Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph Ill Younan said. “All are abandoned. No more prayers, no services, no more Masses on Sundays in Mosul because no clergy, no people there that are Christian.”
Christians are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul after the Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a “convert or die” order in the city.
The edict says that by Saturday all Christians in the city must convert to Islam, pay a large fine or be killed according to a statement read in mosques throughout the city.
“Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil,” Patriarch Louis Sako told AFP news agency. “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”
Islamists have been going through the city marking the homes of Christians for easy identification.
Mosul reportedly contained around 35,000 Christians when the Islamic terrorist group launched their campaign to take over Iraq. Churches throughout the city have been ransacked and their possessions taken or burned.
The Islamists have also destroyed Christian or Jewish shrines or artifacts within the city, including the tomb of the Prophet Jonah.
