Persecution of Assyrians by ISIL
| Genocide of Christians by ISIL | |
|---|---|
| Part of 2014 Northern Iraq offensive | |
| Location | Iraq, Syria, Libya |
| Date | June 11, 2014 – present |
| Target | mostly Arab Christians, Levantines, Armenians, Chaldeans, Syriacs and Copts |
|
Attack type
|
Ethnic cleansing, abuse, and forced conversions to an extremist version of Wahhabism |
| Deaths | Thousands |
| Victims | 135,000 Chaldean and Syriac refugees |
| Perpetrators |
 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
|
| Defenders |
Syriac Military Council Sutoro  Nineveh Plain Protection UnitsQaraqosh Protection Committee Dwekh Nawsha Sootoro Hezbollah Iraqi Armed Forces Syrian Armed Forces Lebanese Armed Forces |
| Motive | Wahhabi Sunni Islamic extremism |
The genocide of Christians by ISIL refers to the genocide of Christian minorities, within its region of control in Iraq, Syria and Libya by the Islamic extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Persecution of Christian minorities climaxed following its takeover of parts of Northern Iraq in June 2014.
According to US diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez, "While the majority of victims in the conflict raging in Syria and Iraq have been Muslims, Christians have borne a heavy burden given their small numbers."
On February 3, 2016, the European Union recognized the persecution of Christians by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as genocide. The vote was unanimous. The United States followed suit on March 15, 2016, declaring these atrocities as genocide. The vote was unanimous. On April 20, 2016, British Parliament voted unanimously to denounce the actions as genocide. A similar motion however failed in Canada when it was opposed by the majority of MP's in Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.
The mass flight and expulsion of ethnic Assyrians and Chaldeans from Iraq is a process which initiated with the Iraq War in 2003 and continues to this day. 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 since the U.S.-led invasion in 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. Following the campaign of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern Iraq in August 2014, one quarter of the remaining Iraqi Assyrians fled the jihadists, finding refuge in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan.
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Wikipedia