Christians flee Mosul
צילום: איי פי
Iraq’s newest refugees
Thousands of Christians forced to flee northern Iraqi city of Mosul as result of terror attacks by Kurds, Sunnis. Recent Internet films reveal non-Muslim group receiving death threats for selling alcohol
With relatively little media coverage, and no big headlines, an ethnic cleansing-like process - for lack of better terminology - is being conducted in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
According to various reports, over the last month approximately 2,300 Christian families, who comprise more than half of the Christian population in the northern oil city, have left the city en masse and moved to other Iraqi regions and even to neighboring countries, including Syria.
The reason for the phenomenon is not entirely clear, but in the last few weeks there have been many attacks against the city’s Christian population in the city located approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad.
The growing number of attacks, terrorism and death threats managed to affect the Christians who have begun their second Iraqi exile. The first mass in-migration followed the US invasion and the beginning of major bloodshed in the country.
In the wake of the war, about two million Iraqis have fled to Syria (1.2 million) and to Jordan (750,000). Whoever was able to do so moved to other destinations. Some even managed to reach Israel.
Following the fall of the regime with the US army’s invasion; many Sunnis and others fled the area. Those who stayed were mainly groups of extremist Sunnis, various militias and whoever was unable to leave the area at the time.
The Sunni militias, who are in cahoots with al-Qaeda, were quick to respond and fought against different forces in Mosul including Christians. The main source of the radical militias’ wrath was the alcohol the Christians sold in the city and suspicions that they were “Western agents."
In the last few days, online films showed Christians from the area speaking of the threats they received on their lives due in part to the alcohol stores they run.
On the other hand, the Christians have been blaming most of the terrorism and attacks on the independent Kurdish militias or those who operated under the Iraqi army’s auspices in order to “cleanse" some of the city’s Christian population and make Mosul a Kurdish autonomy. The Kurds have denied such allegations.
