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ISIS has desecrated the Armenian church in Mosul and destroyed the signs and icons revered by christians, Hayernaysor.am reports (the official website of Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia). The district where the church is has been lately liberated by the Iraqi Army.
Before the rise of ISIS, around 15,000 Armenians had remained in Iraq post the U.S. invasion, primarily in the cities of Baghdad, Basrah, Kirkuk, and Mosul. After IS militants took control of Mosul in June 2014, around 60 Armenian families and other Christians fled to the provinces of Kurdistan. Reportedly, there are no Armenians left in Mosul today.
Earlier, the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) had reported that some Christian families had started returning to their homes once occupied by ISIS. In the eastern parts of Mosul at least three Armenian families have returned to their homes despite the insecurity caused by the ongoing fighting between ISIS and Iraqi forces.
Iraq has been home to Christians since the first century A.D. However, the Christian population fell drastically after Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003 and during the two years that the ISIS occupied Mosul and purged the city of believers.