{"id":7867,"date":"2014-08-02T03:08:49","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T02:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=7867"},"modified":"2014-08-02T03:09:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-02T02:09:20","slug":"christians-forced-flee-mosul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/christians-forced-flee-mosul\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians in Iraq Forced to Flee Mosul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Christians<\/a>
Christians flee the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christians in Iraq have been forced to flee<\/strong><\/a> Mosul with nothing but the clothes they wore after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) issued this statement to Christians: convert to Islam, pay a tax, or die.<\/p>\n

Zaid Qreqosh Ishaq, 27, fled from Mosul<\/strong><\/a> with his family after receiving ISIS\u2019 ultimatum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to go through an area where they had set up a checkpoint,\u201d he said. ISIS militants \u201casked us to get out of the car. We got out. They took\u2026our things, our bags, our money, everything we had on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

They took refuge at the St. Joseph Church in the Kurdish city of Irbil, but they may be forced to move on as the violence follows them.<\/p>\n

Nawzad Hadi, Irbil\u2019s governor, pledged to protect Christians and other minority groups fleeing Isis. Around two million refugees from Iraq and Syria call Irbil home.<\/p>\n

France offered refuge<\/strong><\/a> to Christians fleeing from Iraq and ISIS.<\/p>\n

“We are providing aid to displaced people fleeing from the threats,” France’s foreign and interior ministers said in a joint statement. “We are ready, if they wish, to facilitate their asylum on our soil.”<\/p>\n

Another Christian from Mosul, Noel Ibrahim, said that while he was fleeing with his family a group of ISIS members stopped them and stole cash and gold from the women.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the gunmen told us, \u2018You can leave now, but do not ever dream of returning to Mosul again,\u201d Ibrahim said.<\/p>\n

ISIS told Christians in a statement<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cWe offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract\u2014involving payment of the jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dhimma is a historic contract that says any non-Muslims living in a Muslim country who refuse to convert to Islam must pay the jizya tax if they wish to ensure their safety.<\/p>\n

ISIS believes they have the right to make this demand because in June they declared a caliphate, an Islamic state ruled by one leader.<\/p>\n

The Muslim jihadists have since converted churches into mosques and confiscated the homes and properties of Christians.<\/p>\n

In order to know which properties they are confiscating, the jihadists have been marking Christians\u2019 homes with the letter N for \u201cNassarah,\u201d the term used for Christians in the Koran.<\/p>\n

\"Muslims<\/a>
Muslims spray paint the houses of Christians in order to know which houses to confiscate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Patriarch Louis Soko, one of the most senior Christian clerics in Iraq, said that \u201cfor the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.\u201d Approximately 10,000 Christians have fled Mosul after Isis took control in early June.<\/p>\n

Once home to a thriving Christian population, Iraq now has around 35,000 Christians as compared to the 60,000 that lived there before 2003. This number began to decline in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis, along with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, have pleaded for help<\/strong><\/a> from the U.S. for these Christians, but President Barack Obama and other Western leaders have remained silent on the issue.<\/p>\n

Among other travesties, ISIS destroyed<\/strong> <\/a>the Biblical prophet Jonah\u2019s tomb, which is located in Mosul. They allegedly put dynamite around the tomb and detonated it by remote control.<\/p>\n

By destroying Jonah\u2019s tomb, one of the last physical traces of Iraq\u2019s Christian heritage, the members of ISIS are directly attacking the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq and partially rests on the site for the ancient city of Ninevah, the ancient capital of Assyria and the setting of Jonah\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

Isis issued<\/strong> <\/a>a similar statement in February to the city of Raqqa in Syria. They told Christians to pay half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in order to secure their safety.<\/p>\n

The Islamic State group says it will continue its offensive until it reaches Baghdad, although its progress seems to have slowed after taking over Iraq\u2019s Sunni areas.<\/p>\n

To learn more about ISIS, watch the brief video below<\/p>\n