CNEWA

UPDATE: IRAQ
The Urgent Needs of the Refugees

Michel Constantin, CNEWA?s regional director for Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, discusses the situation in Iraq.

Let me start with the Iraqi Christian refugees in Lebanon. I met with Chaldean Bishop Michel Kassarji today, who informed me that he has received the past few days around 190 new Chaldean families from Iraq, and it seems the Lebanese authority is granting tourist visas to Iraqis at their arrival at the Beirut airport.

He expects a major influx of Christian Iraqi refugees into Lebanon in the coming few weeks; many of the families who fled their homes are in the process of getting valid passports. Once they have passports, family members in the West secure plane tickets for them to head to Beirut. At their arrival, Bishop Kassarji provides each family (only once) with a food and hygiene package, mattresses and covers. Syriac Catholic Father Hanna Yako confirmed that some 250 Syriac Catholic families have also arrived in Lebanon from Iraq, also carrying tourist visas.

These families need basic items, such food and water, sanitary products, medicines and nursing formula. Those with chronic health problems (diabetes, heart ailments, etc.) need immediate attention.

As for the general situation of the Christians inside Iraq, I spoke with a Chaldean priest who served in a parish near Mosul, and who is visiting Beirut to see his family, who are emigrating West. Father Aram explained to us that the last wave of displacement of Christians in northern Iraq happened as follows:

  • Within the Chaldean Archeparchy of Mosul, which includes Chaldean Catholics of Mosul, Tal Keif and Qaramlesh, more than 2,000 families fled their homes to find refuge in the Kurdish towns of Zakho, Duhoc and Erbil.

  • In the Syriac Catholic Archeparchy of Mosul, which includes Mosul, Qaraqosh, Bartella and Baashiqa, more than 11,000 families were displaced to Kurdish towns. More than 9,000 of these displaced families are Syriac Catholics. The rest belong to Assyrian Church of the East or the Chaldean Catholic or Syriac Orthodox churches.

  • In the Chaldean eparchy of Al Qosh, which includes Al Qosh, Tal Eskef, Batnaya, Baaqoufa and Jambour villages, the ISIS militants have occupied all villages — except Al Qosh. As a matter of fact, ISIS approached the town, but didn’t occupy it yet. At present, Al Qosh is the demarcation line between the Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) and ISIS. From this eparchy, 5,000 Chaldean families left for Kurdistan.

Together with the estimated 5,000 families who fled Mosul earlier this summer, some 23,000 Iraqi Christian families, about 120,000 people — have fled the wave of violence on the Nineveh Plain, a cradle of Christianity in Mesopotamia.

Given the large number of refugees and their great needs, our partners have urged us to help them secure up to three months’ supply of infant formula and regular milk for children, which is not included in the food packages distributed by international aid organizations thus far.

Basic medical care is also desperately needed: A team of doctors, who are volunteering their work in coordination with the local church, are pleading for basic medical equipment.

Please help us to help our brothers and sisters in need, and provide them with the basic necessities that can keep them alive.

Visit this page to learn how.

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