Dozens of Christians in Qaraqosh, Iraq celebrated mass for the first time since the city was retaken from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in military troops’ battle for Mosul.
On Sunday, Iraqi Christians attended mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Qaraqosh even though the walls have been charred and the altar has been destroyed. Church bells also rang out across the town as the U.S.-led anti-ISIS forces marched forward in the battle for Mosul, Reuters details.
“Today Qaraqosh is free of Daesh (Islamic State),” Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Butrus Moshe told the church attendees on Sunday.
When ISIS took over some areas in Iraq and Syria two years ago, the militant group forced Christians to pay the jizyah tax, convert to Islam, or face execution. The atrocities of the jihadists against religious minorities forced them to flee their homeland and seek refuge in the Kurdish region.
Now that ISIS has been driven out of Qaraqosh, Archbishop Moshe said they now face the task of removing all traces of the radical Islamist group in the city. He said they should erase divisions, political strife, religious conflict, sedition, and other mentalities which victimized them the last couple of years.
Even though Qaraqosh has already been freed from the clutches of ISIS, Christian Today has learned that it is still not safe for civilians to return home. A representative from the Christian militia the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU) revealed that there are still some ISIS militants in Qaraqosh who are able to navigate around the Christian town using tunnels.
“The town is not 100 per cent cleared from IEDs [improvised explosive devices], or from bombs, so it is still not safe for the civilians,” said NPU spokesman Athra Kado.
In addition, Kado shared the devastation they felt when they liberated Qaraqosh and the other Christian towns around Mosul and saw how the infrastructures built over a hundred years were destroyed in merely two years. However, he struck a hopeful note when he said they can rebuild what ISIS broke.
