Iraqi archbishop: ‘Isis tried to eradicate us, but failed’

A decade after the Islamic State militants drove them from their homeland, Iraq’s Christian community in the Nineveh Plains has demonstrated resilience and hope, according to a Syriac Catholic Archbishop.

During an online conference organised by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Nizar Semaan, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Adiabene in Northern Iraq, said: “Words cannot describe what we experienced 10 years ago, Isis tried to eradicate us, but they failed. The people here are like olive trees. You can cut them, burn them, but after 10 or 20 years they will continue to give fruit. They tried everything, but we remain, and as a Church we do everything to give a sign of hope.”

Around half the Christians who lived in the Nineveh Plains have returned to houses which have been rebuilt with help from Aid to the Church in Need. Archbishop Semaan reported that in Qaraqosh, the largest exclusively Christian town in Iraq, “before ISIS we had 50,000 people, and now we have maybe 25,000.”

The community’s reintegration, however, is tempered by the reality that many who have resettled abroad may never return permanently, particularly those with children who are now rooted in foreign lands.

Even though Isis itself no longer poses a serious threat to the Christian community, religious tensions are still there. The Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, who also took part in the conference, highlighted various initiatives, such as the Pope Francis Scholarship Program, which extends educational support to non-Christian communities like Muslims and Yezidis, embodying the Gospel of solidarity through practical acts of kindness. Such initiatives promote communal inclusion and harmony.

However, he reported that the current threat of a regional conflict involving Israel, Hamas, Lebanon and even Iran has Christians on edge, as they are aware that in these situations, they often become targets for fundamentalists or collateral targets in the wars of others. These divisions also continue to manifest in the political sphere. “The tension is high between certain parties, very high, and it gives you the impression that something might happen that you have to be careful about, and be well prepared, but right now we have not seen that conflict become violent,” Archbishop Warda said.

The two archbishops told the conference that no matter what difficulties and hardships the Christians in Iraq have faced, their faith and love for the Church have been constant.

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