AMMAN (OSV News): Iraqi Catholics will always remember the events of 4 to 10 June 2014, when Islamic State [IS] militants captured Mosul and carried out a destructive rampage across the country’s historic heartland, a place that has been home to Christians for 16 centuries.
“Young men spread the warning that Daesh [Arabic-language acronym] was entering Mosul,” Rita, a native of Mosul, shared her experience from the Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Marka, Amman, the Jordanian capital. She, along with other Iraqis attending the church, gave only their first names for fear of potential retribution against their relatives who still live in Iraq.
IS emerged as a breakaway group from the al-Qaida network and gained control over significant territories in Iraq and Syria. In 2014, it declared a caliphate, drawing extremists from Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the world.
Many Iraqi Christians are unable to return to their homes, which were either damaged by IS or taken over by others. In Jordan, they face the challenges of refugee life.
