The Qaraqosh Protection Committee (also known as the Nineveh Plains Security Forces) is an armed militia formed by
Assyrians living in the city of
Bakhdida
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 ...
, in
Ninawa Governorate
Nineveh Governorate ( ar, محافظة نينوى, syr, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ, Hoparkiya d’Ninwe, ckb, پارێزگای نەینەوا, Parêzgeha Neynewa), also known as Ninawa Governorate, is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an ...
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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. The committee, formed in 2004, was organized through local churches, and began manning checkpoints and was soon working with the
Iraqi police
The Iraqi Police (IP) is the uniformed police force responsible for the enforcement of civil law in Iraq. Its organisation, structure and recruitment were guided by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and it is ...
.
Persecution during the Iraq War
Assyrians in post-Saddam Iraq have faced a high rate of persecution by
Fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishi ...
Islamists since the beginning of the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
. By early August 2004, this persecution included church bombings, and fundamentalist groups' enforcement of Muslim codes of behavior upon Assyrian Christians, e.g., banning alcohol, forcing women to wear
hijab. The violence against the community has led to the exodus of perhaps as much as half of the community. While
Assyrians only made up 5% of the total
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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
i population before the war, according to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
,
Assyrians comprise as much as 40% of the growing Iraqi refugees who are stranded in
Syria,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
The coordinator for the Qaraqosh Protection Committee, Sabah Behnem, said outside agendas—from the Sunnis of al-Qaeda to the Shi'a in Iran—were "behind the efforts to displace Iraqi Christians."
On Tuesday, October 12, 2010, the Qaraqosh Protection Committee, in coordination with the Kurdish
Asayish Forces, captured Ali Muhammad Idris Sadeq, a top
Al-Qaeda leader, in the town of Qaraqosh (
Bakhdida
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 ...
).
The Qaraqosh Protection Committee reorganized after the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
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 ...
overran the
Nineveh Plains in 2014. It is now known as the Nineveh Plains Security Forces and cooperates closely with the
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...
Peshmerga
The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, ...
and
Asayish.
See also
*
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 Ass ...
*
List of armed groups in the Iraqi Civil War
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
Anti-ISIL factions in Iraq
Assyrian organizations
Assyrians in Iraq
Christianity in Nineveh Governorate
Factions in the Iraq War
Organizations established in 2008
Paramilitary forces of Iraq
Religious paramilitary organizations
{{Iraq-stub