Christian Refugees Flood Out of Mosul

Saturday, June 14, 2014

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

MOSUL, IRAQ (Worthy News)-- Bodies of Christians covered the streets of Iraq's second-largest city after Sunni jihadists seized a town that Iraqi Christians had thought was their last refuge, according to Christian Headlines.com.

As Mosul fell overnight, the BBC reported that 150,000 had fled the city.

"A mass exodus is underway from Iraq's second largest city after its seizure by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an Iraq and Syria-based Sunni Muslim extremist group," reported Christian Today. "ISIS has been able to take military advantage of a political power vacuum as Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki struggles to form a government after recent elections. ISIS wants to overthrow the Iraqi and Syrian Governments and establish a Sunni Muslim Caliphate in the Middle East.

"The Iraqi Parliament has declared a State of Emergency. The Prime Minister called for the Iraqi people to volunteer, and take up arms to defend the country."

But as ISIS swept into Mosul, government troops dropped their arms and fled. According to Christian Today, they even removed their uniforms while jihadists looted and torched churches, raised Islamic black flags and began demanding that all women wear veils.

As a result, most of the civilian refugees who escaped Mosul left in a hurry with very few possessions.

"Mosul soon will be emptied of Christians," said World Watch Monitor. "This could be the last migration of Christians from Mosul".

Previously, Syria had been a refuge for Christians fleeing Iraq, but Syria's civil war made daily life more dangerous there than at home, compelling many to return back to Mosul, only to have flee it once again.