A Legacy of Faith Under Fire for Iraqi Christians
In August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — an extremist Sunni group — launched a violent campaign across northern Iraq. Their target: Qaraqosh, an ancient Christian city located in the Nineveh Plains.
What followed became one of the most devastating assaults on religious minorities in modern Iraqi history. Now, eleven years later, the story of Iraq’s largest Christian community is far from over, and far from hopeless.
At ADF International, we’re standing alongside Iraq’s Christians, advocating for their right to worship freely and raising global awareness of their struggle.
Christianity’s Deep Roots in Iraq
Christianity is not foreign to Iraq — it’s foundational. Long before ISIS and Islam, Christianity had already taken root in Iraq. In fact, Christianity has existed in Iraq since the first century AD, long before it reached many parts of Europe.
This makes Iraq home to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world.
The Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church all trace their lineage to Iraq. These churches preserve early liturgical traditions and still conduct services in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic — the language spoken by Jesus.
Many Iraqi Christians today are ethnic Assyrians, descendants of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which once ruled over much of the Middle East. Christianity became embedded in Assyrian identity after their conversion in the first few centuries AD, blending ancient cultural heritage with deep Christian faith.
Just south of the Nineveh Plains lies the region of southern Mesopotamia, where the ancient city of Ur — the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch through whom God’s redemptive promises and Jesus flow — is located.
This land is steeped in sacred history. But history alone has not guaranteed safety for Iraq’s Christians.
The 2014 Genocide: What Happened to Iraqi Christians
In the 2014 attack, ISIS aimed to establish a caliphate in northern Iraq, one free of Christians, Yazidis, and other minorities. Qaraqosh, the largest Christian city in Iraq, was one of its primary targets.
The violence extended far beyond Qaraqosh. Sinjar, the heartland of the Yazidi people, and Mosul, once a city of rich religious diversity, were left shattered under the same campaign of destruction.
Entire villages were emptied. Ancient Christian manuscripts and artifacts were destroyed or sold on the black market. Communities that had existed for nearly 2,000 years were uprooted in a matter of days.
The assault was systematic:
- Churches and monasteries were burned, bombed, or turned into prisons and weapons depots.
- Christian symbols — crosses, icons, statues — were desecrated or publicly destroyed.
- Homes and businesses were looted and marked with the Arabic letter “ن” (nūn), short for Nasrani (Christian), a brand of targeted extermination.
- Graves and cemeteries were desecrated in an attempt to erase memory itself.
Christians and Yazidis were given four choices: convert to Islam, pay the jizya — a humiliating religious tax imposed on non-Muslims under extremist rule — flee, or die. Nearly 80,000 Christians fled their homes in a desperate exodus.
Women and Children: The Most Vulnerable
Women and girls, especially from Yazidi and Christian communities, suffered some of the worst atrocities. ISIS ran an organized network of slave markets where girls, some as young as nine, were bought, sold, and passed between fighters.
Over 6,800 Yazidi women and children were abducted, according to UN reports, and an unknown number of Christian girls were subjected to similar fates. Many have never been found.
In the chaos, tens of thousands sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region, where the regional government, while limited in resources, opened its borders. Most found shelter in refugee camps, unfinished buildings, or makeshift settlements. For many, those “temporary” shelters have now become permanent.
The Lasting Impact of ISIS’s Attack
Before ISIS’s brutal campaign, an estimated 350,000 Christians lived in Iraq. Today, that number has dwindled significantly.
As of 2024, it’s estimated that less than half of the original Christians who fled the Plains have returned. Security concerns, economic hardship, and limited infrastructure continue to hinder full resettlement.
Many Iraqi Christians remain uncertain about their ability to live openly and safely as Christians in their own homeland.
To defend themselves, locals formed the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit (NPU), a militia dedicated to defending their communities. By 2017, a coalition of Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, local militias, and US-led air support liberated the region.
While ISIS may no longer control the region, Christians in Iraq continue to face:
- Discrimination in law and daily life.
- Threats and intimidation from militias and extremist groups.
- Barriers to reclaiming stolen homes and properties.
- Government failure to protect religious minorities.
- A lack of legal recognition and representation.
These ongoing struggles reveal a deeper truth: Iraq’s legal system, still fragile after decades of conflict, has yet to prove it will uphold the rights of Iraqi Christians.
A Visit to Qaraqosh: Seeing the Present Reality
In 2021, Pope Francis visited Iraq, including Qaraqosh, bringing global attention to the plight of Iraqi Christians. His message was clear: Iraqi Christians are not forgotten.
Earlier this year, Sean Nelson, ADF International’s Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom, visited Qaraqosh and the surrounding areas.
Amidst ruined buildings and ongoing hardships, Sean met determined individuals working to rebuild homes, reopen churches, and restore dignity to daily life.
What Nelson Experienced
“What I saw in Qaraqosh was Christians deeply committed to rebuilding their lives and their communities after the horror of ISIS. Many churches had been renovated and restored, and one church that was over 1000 years old, but had been left in ruins for a century, had been completely rebuilt after ISIS. Crosses were proudly displayed. And the communities were committed to never forgetting what ISIS had done. Each church still had memorials and sections showing the devastation.”
“Still, these communities have seen their populations cut in half since before ISIS. Religious leaders mentioned illegal and dubious encroachments on land, and a lack of political representation and economic development. They were unanimously concerned that the Iranian-backed militias surrounding them were preventing them from being fully included members of Iraqi society.
“I saw children playing outside at one church whose families had secretly converted to Christianity. They could not visit Christian services openly out of fear of violent reprisals. The religious leaders worried that if things did not change, so many people would leave and never return. They saw sustained international pressure as one of their only hopes for most Christians to be able to remain.”
“In nearby Erbil, within the autonomous Kurdistan region, where many Christians fled during the ISIS attacks, Christians are able to live relatively free lives, and the local government respects them more and celebrates the religious diversity and history of the area. They still face some hardships —particularly converts from Islam, who face violent threats — but in general, there was a more inclusive vision for Christians. That same kind of inclusion should be available to Christians in the Nineveh Plains and throughout Iraq.”
Though the situation in Iraq is slowly changing, the threat to Christian communities remains a pressing concern in Iraq and beyond.
ISIS Elsewhere
Although ISIS has waned as a threat in Iraq, its influence is spreading across the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington, DC-based counterterrorism research group, warns of what it calls a “silent genocide” targeting Christians.
In 2025
According to MEMRI, the Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) recently published 20 images celebrating four separate strikes on Christian villages in the Chiure district of Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province.
The photographs depict ISIS fighters storming villages, setting fire to a church, and destroying homes. The photographs also include scenes of the beheading of a person described by the extremists as belonging to “infidel militias,” along with two Christian civilians. Additional photographs, MEMRI’s review noted, show the bodies of several people identified by the group as members of these so-called militias.
In recent weeks, Islamic State affiliates have also claimed responsibility for killing dozens of Christians during a Catholic vigil in Komanda, DRC, and for bombing the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria, which killed 20 plus Christians and injured 60.
Conclusion: The Road Ahead Requires Standing for Religious Freedom in Iraq
World leaders and international institutions must urgently unite behind a clear and effective strategy to dismantle the Islamic State network before more lives are lost.
Freedom of belief and religion is a fundamental human right. We at ADF International remain committed to protecting this right for Christians around the world. We are standing with them, advocating for them, and praying for a future where they can thrive in the land their ancestors have called home for centuries.
We will continue to:
- Advocate for legal protections for religious minorities in Iraq and elsewhere
- Support survivors in their fight to reclaim homes and rebuild lives
- Raise global awareness through policy engagement and media
- Pray for a future where faith can flourish without fear
Every day that goes by without bold action puts more lives in danger. We must act now — and we are.
