The past decade has inaugurated a devastating new reality for the Christian minorities of Iraq and Syria. The survival of these vulnerable communities has bee jeopardized by a deadly triad composed of the security vacuum resulting from the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Islamist violence, and the consequences of despotic power. This chapter presents the current status of Christian communites in Iraq and Syria, providing brief historical background and then focusing on the seismic events that transpired from 2011 through 2014.
Matthew Barber, “They That Remain: Syrian and Iraqi Christian Communities amid the Syria Conflict and the Rise of the Islamic State” in Hertzke, Allen D., and Timothy Samuel Shah, eds. Christianity and Freedom: Volume 2, Contemporary Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
