The return of war to the Middle East has reopened old wounds and many Christians are again contemplating leaving the region.
A drone strike last Wednesday (4 March) damaged Church-owned buildings in Ankawa, the Christian-majority district of Erbil in northern Iraq, raising fresh fears among local Christians about their future in the region amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
“When war erupts in the Middle East, we face another erosion, fast or slow. Do we stay? Do our children have a future?” said Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in a statement sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
“We fear bombs and uncertainty. Our hope in Jesus is not built on politics but on God’s faithful presence,” he added.
The attack damaged a block of flats owned by the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil – the Blessed Michael McGivney Apartment Complex – as well as the nearby convent of the Chaldean Daughters of Mary Immaculate. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
The apartment complex had been evacuated a few days earlier amid threats that the nearby US military base and Erbil International Airport could be targeted. The warnings followed US and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran, which led to the outbreak of war in the region.
The complex had served as accommodation for young couples and students from the Catholic University in Erbil, which is part-funded by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
John Neill, a long-term aide and project coordinator for Archbishop Warda, said the community was deeply shaken by the attack: “We are very concerned and shocked. War is so indiscriminate. It is miraculous that nobody seems to have been hurt. We pray to the Holy Spirit to help keep everyone safe.”
Fadi Issa, ACN’s international representative in northern Iraq, warned that the security situation in the country is deteriorating rapidly, with Iranian-backed militias launching missiles at US military bases and some of the projectiles landing in populated areas.
According to Mr Issa, the pace of missile and drone launches targeting Erbil has increased in recent days. Some have been intercepted by air defence systems, but others have fallen in Ankawa, including near church and residential buildings.
The nearby convent – also supported by ACN – forms part of a complex involving a catechism centre and the Church of Sts Peter and Paul which, at peak times, hosts up to 1,000 young people learning about Christianity.
Mr Issa said Christian communities in the nearby Nineveh Plains – the ancestral homeland of Iraqi Christians – are increasingly anxious about the possibility of further escalation.
“Today families are intensifying their prayers in the hope that peace will prevail and that this chaotic and senseless war will come to an end,” he said.
“This war brings back memories of the forced displacement of 2014, and people may begin to consider migration once again.”
He added that some Christians from the Nineveh Plains who had been living in Erbil have begun returning to their hometowns, fearing further attacks on the Kurdish capital.
Many families retained homes in Christian-majority towns such as Qaraqosh and Karmles despite living in Kurdistan after fleeing the Islamic State (ISIS) invasion of Mosul and the Nineveh Plains in 2014.
The bomb-damaged convent in Ankawa and the nearby church had been visited only two weeks earlier as part of a trip to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region organised by the UK office of Aid to the Church in Need, led by Jim Shannon MP, Chair of the Westminster Parliament’s All-Party Group for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Christians in Ankawa have long been a priority for the charity, which provided emergency help for thousands seeking sanctuary after the 2014 ISIS invasion.
Aid to the Church in Need continues to support the community by sponsoring students at the Catholic University in Erbil and funding catechesis and other Christian education programmes, including the Ankawa Youth Meeting, a Christian youth camp.
