Persecution of Christians by the Islamic State
The persecution of Christians by the Islamic State involves the systematic mass murder[1][2][3] of Christian minorities, within the regions of Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya controlled by the Islamic terrorist group Islamic State. Persecution of Christian minorities climaxed following the Syrian civil war and later by its spillover.[4][5]
Persecution of Christians by the Islamic State
Ongoing
Christians (mostly Assyrians, Arab Christians, Armenians, Copts, Citadel Christians, and other groups)
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 Muslims, Christians have borne a heavy burden given their small numbers."[6]
On February 3, 2016, the European Union recognized the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, by the Islamic State as genocide.[7][8][9] The vote was unanimous. The United States House of Representatives followed suit on March 15, 2016, declaring that these atrocities against minorities were genocide.[10] On April 20, 2016, the British Parliament unanimously voted to denounce the actions against minorities as genocide.[11]
Background[edit]
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 by the US and the Multi-National Force and later it was initiated during the start of the Syrian civil war and the spillover. Leaders of Iraq's 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 and Basra, and that Sunni insurgent groups and militias have threatened Assyrian Christians.[12] Following the campaign of the Islamic State in northern Iraq in August 2014, one quarter of the remaining Assyrians fled the jihadists, finding refuge in neighboring countries.[13]