Washington — The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) sent an initial sum of $20,000 to assist with Christians displaced inside Iraq.
Funds given by the BWA will be used to help provide food and other urgent relief supplies to approximately 500 Iraqi Christian families who fled Mosul and Karakosh to Irbil city in Kurdistan state.
Christians fled in haste without their possessions, including clothing. Money, jewelry and other valuables were stolen or confiscated.
Mosul, Iraq’s second largest metropolitan area after Baghdad, is an ancient city in Northern Iraq that has had a significant Christian presence going back almost 2,000 years. Karakosh is in close proximity to Mosul.
Problems faced by Iraqi Christians escalated in June with the Northern Iraq offensive, when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), sometimes referred to as the Islamic State, and aligned forces, began a major offensive in Northern Iraq against the Iraqi government. The same antagonists attacked Kurdish-held territory in Northern Iraq in August.
Christians and other minority religious groups have been specially targeted by ISIS. A decree was issued in July that all Christians in the area under ISIS control, including Mosul and Karakosh, must pay a special tax of approximately $470 per family, convert to Islam or leave. It was later announced that all Christians needed to leave or be killed.
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