Karamlesh ( syr, ܟܪܡܠܫ, ar, كرمليس; also spelled ''Karemlash'', ''Karemles'', ''Karemlish'', etc.) is an

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

town in northern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

located less than south east of

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...

. It is surrounded by many hills that along with it made up the historical Assyrian city of Kar-Mullissi (written URU.kar-^dNIN.LÍL), which means "the city of

Mullissu Mullissu is a goddess who is the consort of the Assyrian god Asshur. Mullissu may be identical with the Sumerian goddess Ninlil, wife of the god Enlil, which would parallel the fact that Asshur himself was modeled on Enlil. Mullissu's name was w ...

" in

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

. Residents of the town fled to

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, ...

following the invasion of the town by

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

in August 2014. The town was liberated by Iraqi Security Forces from ISIS rule on October 24, 2016, as part of the larger Battle of Mosul.

History

Patriarchal seat of the Church of the East

Karemlash was the seat of the Nestorian patriarch

Denha II Mar Denha II (also written Dinkha II) was patriarch of the Church of the East from 1336/7 to 1381/2. Although no history of his reign has survived, references in a number of Nestorian, Jacobite and Moslem sources provide some details of his patr ...

(1336/7–1381/2) for at least part of his reign. The continuator of the ''Ecclesiastical History'' of Bar Hebraeus mentions several contacts between Denha II and the Jacobite church in Karamlish between 1358 and 1364. At this period Karemlash had Jacobite and Armenian communities alongside its Nestorian majority, and its village chiefs styled themselves 'emirs'. The prosperity enjoyed by the village during the reign of Denha II presumably came to an end when the patriarchate was relocated to

at an unknown date in the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

Post Iraq War

Karemlash was relatively calm following the US-led

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. In late 2003, the town came briefly under the control of the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

(377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion). The town showed strong support towards the

Assyrian Democratic Movement The Assyrian Democratic Movement ( syr, ܙܘܥܐ ܕܝܡܘܩܪܛܝܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ, Zawʻá Demoqraṭáyá ʼÁṯuráyá, ar, الحركة الديمقراطية الآشورية, ADM), popularly known as Zowaa (), is an Assyrian political party ...

during the parliamentary and local elections in 2005, 2007 and 2010. The town also received thousands of Assyrian and other Christian refugees from other parts of the country after waves of violence against them. In response to this influx of refugees,

Sarkis Aghajan Sarkis Aghajan Mamendo ( syr, ܣܪܟܝܣ ܐܓܓܢ ܡܡܢܕܘ), (born 1962) is an Iraqi Assyrian politician who was appointed Minister for Finance and Economy in the cabinet of Iraqi Kurdistan on 7 May 2006. Early life Sarkis was born in Diyana, ...

and the Supreme committee of Christian affairs built and renovated new homes, churches, cemeteries, infrastructure and a complex for Armenian Refugees, among other improvements. On August 6, 2014,

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ' ...

took over the town, causing all of its inhabitants to flee to Erbil. During their occupation of the city, they burned an 80-year-old

woman to death for "failing to comply with the strict laws of the Islamic State" and destroyed a large portion of the historic

Mar Behnam Monastery Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah ( syr, ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܒܗܢܡ ܘܡܪܬ ܣܪܐ, ar, دير مار بهنام, ''Mar Behnam Monastery''), is a Syriac Catholic monastery in northern Iraq in the village Khidr Ilyas close to ...

. On October 24, 2016, the city was liberated by the Iraqi Army, which, on the same day, returned crosses to the domes of some of the main churches.

Security

The

Nineveh Plain Protection Units The Nineveh Plain Protection Units ( syc, ܚܕܝ̈ܘܬ ܣܬܪܐ ܕܫܛܚܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ ; ar, وحدات حماية سهل نينوى) or NPU is an Assyrian military organization that was formed in late 2014, largely but not exclusively by Assy ...

currently run the security in the Town Contested Control: The Future of Security in Iraq's Nineveh Plain
/ref>

Gallery

Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh6.JPG, Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh8.JPG, Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh9.jpg, Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh2.JPG,

References

''Originally based on an article by Habib Hannona and Fred Aprim on karemlash.com, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, used with permission.'' {{Nineveh Plains Assyrian communities in Iraq Populated places in Nineveh Governorate Nineveh Plains