Al Qaeda Targets Iraqi Christians

Besides its bombing campaigns and kidnappings launched against Muslims, Al Qaeda hasn't let Iraq's small, but ancient Christian community go unnoticed. New reports indicate that Al Qaeda has given the Christians of Baghdad a narrow set of options: 1) convert to Islam; 2) have your daughters marry Islamic fighters; 3) pay the Islamic tax levied on non-believers (jizya); or 4) leave. Although Iraqi Christians are reluctant to discuss these threats for fear of reprisals, refugees in nearby Syria say the persecution is very real. The UN refugee agency in Damascus says 19,000 Iraqi Christians have registered with them, while an Iraqi legislator estimates that nearly 500,000 have fled the country. The American military says it has just become aware of the widespread campaign to oust Iraqi Christians and has taken measures to build protective barriers around their quarter in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad. Most Iraqi Christians are Assyrians or Chaldean Catholics. Some believe that most Baghdad Christian churches have closed and thousands of former Iraqi Christians now live in an industrial region southeast of Damascus, being unable to pay the tax or unwilling to cede to Al Qaeda's demands.

Star This to Save in Your Profile