The genocide of Christians by the Islamic State involves the systematic mass murder of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

minorities, within the regions of

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 ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

controlled by the

Islamic terrorist Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities ...

group

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

. Persecution of Christian minorities climaxed following the Syrian civil war and later by its spillover. According to US diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez, "While the majority of the victims of the conflict which is raging in Syria and Iraq have been

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

have borne a heavy burden given their small numbers." On February 3, 2016, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

recognized the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, by the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

. The vote was unanimous. The

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

followed suit on March 15, 2016, declaring that these atrocities against minorities were genocide. On April 20, 2016, the British Parliament unanimously voted to denounce the actions against minorities as genocide.

Background

The mass flight and expulsion of ethnic Assyrians from Iraq and Syria is a process which was initiated during the start of the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

by the US and the

Multi-National Force Multinational may refer to: * Multinational corporation, a corporate organization operating in multiple countries * Multinational force, a military body from multiple countries * Multinational state, a sovereign state that comprises two or more na ...

and later it was initiated during the start of the Syrian civil war and the spillover. Leaders of Iraq's

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 ...

community estimate that over two-thirds of the Iraqi Assyrian population may have fled the country or been internally displaced during the U.S.-led invasion which lasted from 2003 until 2011. Reports suggest that whole neighborhoods of Assyrians have cleared out in the cities of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

and

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

, and that Sunni insurgent groups and militias have threatened Assyrian Christians. Following the campaign of the

in northern Iraq in August 2014, one quarter of the remaining

Iraqi Assyrians Iraqi Assyrians ( syr, ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ, ar, آشوريو العراق) are an ethnic and linguistic minority group, indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia. Assyrians in Iraq are those Assyrians still residing in the country of Iraq, and those in the As ...

fled the jihadists, finding refuge in neighbouring countries.

Timeline

Northern Iraq (2014)

After the fall of Mosul, ISIL demanded that Assyrian Christians living in the city

convert to Islam Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

, pay

jizyah Jizya ( ar, جِزْيَة / ) is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on dhimmis, that is, permanent non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Islamic law. The jizya tax has been understood in Isl ...

, or face execution, by July 19, 2014. ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi further noted that Christians who do not agree to follow those terms must "leave the borders of the Islamic Caliphate" within a specified deadline. This resulted in a complete Assyrian Christian exodus from Mosul, marking the end of 1,800 years of continuous Christian presence. A church mass was not held in Mosul for the first time in nearly 2 millennia. ISIL has already set similar rules for Christians living in other cities and towns, including its ''de facto'' capital

Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. T ...

. However, on 29 March 2016, ISIL issued a decree preventing Christians from leaving Raqqa. ISIL had also been seen marking Christian homes with the letter ''

nūn Nun is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician Nūn , Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew Nun , Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic Nun , Syriac alphabet, Syriac Nūn ܢܢ, and Arabic alphabet, Arabic N� ...

'' for ''Nassarah'' ("Christian"). Several religious buildings were seized and subsequently demolished, most notably

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 ...

. By August 7, ISIL captured the primarily

towns of

Qaraqosh Qaraqosh, also known as Al-Hamdaniya or Bakhdida, is an Assyrian city in Iraq within the Nineveh Governorate, located about 32 km (20 mi) southeast of the city of Mosul and 60 km (37 mi) west of Erbil amid agricultural lands, close ...

Tel Keppe Tel Keppe ( syr, ܬܸܠ ܟܹܐܦܹܐ ', ar, تل كيف ', alternatively spelled Tel Kaif or Telkef) is an Assyrian town in northern Iraq. It is located in the Nineveh Governorate, less than 8 mi (13 km) northeast of Mosul.Welcome to Te ...

Bartella Bartella (; ar, برطلّة) is a town that is located in the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq, about east of Mosul. Bartella was liberated from ISIL control on October 20, 2016 by Iraqi Special Operations Forces along with the Nineveh Plain ...

, and

Karamlish Karamlesh ( syr, ܟܪܡܠܫ, ar, كرمليس; also spelled ''Karemlash'', ''Karemles'', ''Karemlish'', etc.) is an Assyrian town in northern Iraq located less than south east of Mosul. It is surrounded by many hills that along with it made up ...

, prompting the residents to flee. More than 100,000 Iraqi Christians were forced to flee their homes and leave all their property behind after ISIL invaded

and surrounding towns in the Nineveh Plains Province of Iraq.

Libya (2015)

On February 12, 2015, the ISIL released a report in their online magazine '' Dabiq'' showing photos of 21 Egyptian

Copts Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are C ...

migrant workers that they had kidnapped in the city of

Sirte Sirte (; ar, سِرْت, ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar G ...

, Libya, and whom they threatened to kill to "avenge the llegedkidnapping of Muslim women by the Egyptian Coptic Church". The men, who came from different villages in Egypt, 13 of them from Al-Our, Minya Governorate, were kidnapped in Sirte in two separate attacks on December 27, 2014, and in January 2015.

Syria (2015)

On 23 February 2015, in response to a major Kurdish offensive in the

Al-Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate ( ar, محافظة الحسكة, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḥasakah, ku, Parêzgeha Hesekê}, syc, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܚܣܟܗ, Huparkiyo d'Ḥasake, also known as syc, ܓܙܪܬܐ, Gozarto) is one of the fourteen governorates (prov ...

, ISIL abducted 150 Assyrians from villages near Tell Tamer in northeastern Syria, after launching a large offensive in the region. According to US diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez, of the 232 of the Assyrians kidnapped in the ISIL attack on the Assyrian Christian farming villages on the banks of the Khabur River in Northeast Syria, 51 were children and 84 were women. "Most of them remain in captivity, with one account claiming that ISIS is demanding $22 million (or roughly $100,000 per person) for their release." On 8 October 2015, ISIL released a video showing three of the Assyrian men kidnapped in Khabur being murdered. It was reported that 202 of the 253 kidnapped Assyrians were still in captivity, each one with a demanded ransom of $100,000.

Egypt (2018)

On 2 November. 2018, Islamic State gunmen killed at least seven Coptic Christian pilgrims in Egypt on Friday and wounded at least 16 in an attack. In April 2021, Islamic State gunmen executed a Christian businessman who was kidnapped in Egypt's

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

Reactions

Syriac-Aramean Demonstration in Australia for the Iraqi Christian Genocide

On 2 and 3 August 2014, thousands of Assyrians of the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

protested the persecution of their fellow Assyrians within Iraq and Syria, demanding a United Nations-led creation of a safe haven for minorities in the Nineveh Plains. In October 2014, Kurdish-Danish human rights activist Widad Akrawi dedicated her

2014 International Pfeffer Peace Award Widad Akreyi is a Kurdish health expert and human rights activist. She has co-founded the human rights organization Defend International and is the author of several books about both health issues and human rights. Akreyi holds a master's degre ...

"to all victims of

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

, particularly the

Yazidis Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking Endogamy, endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran ...

, the Christians, and all residents of the Kobanê region." Chaldean Catholic Father

Douglas Al-Bazi Douglas Joseph Shimshon Al-Bazi (or Doglas Yousef Al Bazi, born 1972 in Baghdad) is a Chaldean Catholic Church parish priest in Auckland, New Zealand, as the leader of the Chaldean Catholic congregation there. He formerly served in Baghdad, Iraq. ...

has spoken out strongly against the genocide. In December 2015, at a town hall event, the 67th United States Secretary of State,

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, called the systematic persecution a genocide. In February 2016,

Lars Adaktusson Lars Göran Peter Adaktusson (born 6 August 1955) is a Swedish politician for the Christian Democrats. He was elected Member of the Riksdag in the 2018 general election. Prior to that, he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Early ca ...

, a Swedish member of the European Parliament from the EPP Group, said of the unanimous vote to recognize atrocities as genocide: "It gives the victims of the atrocities a chance to get their human dignity restored. It's also a historical confirmation that the European Parliament recognized what is going on and that they are suffering from the most despicable crime in the world, namely genocide."

References

{{Portal bar, Current events, Christianity, Iraq, Asia, Libya, Egypt 2010s in Asia 21st-century Eastern Orthodoxy 21st-century Oriental Orthodoxy Persecution of Christians Christianity in the Arab world Persecution of Christians in Iraq Christianity in Libya History of Christianity in Syria Christianity in the Middle East Ethnic cleansing by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Forced migration Islam-related controversies Persecution of Assyrians by ISIL Persecution of Copts by ISIL Racism in the Arab world Terrorism in Iraq Terrorism in Syria Terrorism in the Arab world Terrorism in Libya Terrorism in the Middle East People killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Violence against Christians Massacres of Christians Christians executed for refusing to convert to Islam 21st-century mass murder