“Arise go unto Ninveh that great city and make unto it the proclamation that I bid thee.” Jonah 3:2 (The Israel Bible™)

With Iraqi forces on the march to liberate Mosul from the grips of the Islamic State, Iraq’s beleaguered Assyrian Christians have renewed hopes of returning to their ancestral homeland in the Nineveh Plains region surrounding Mosul, the country’s second largest city.

Since the beginning of recorded history, the Assyrians, along with other ethno-religious minorities, have lived in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. In 2014, they were conquered by the Islamic State and forced to flee or be killed.

In the latest development on Oct. 24, Iraqi troops swept into the predominantly Assyrian Christian town of Karemlash, located about 18 miles southeast of Mosul. Before that, Iraqi special units had also captured the Assyrian Christian town of Bartella and entered Iraq’s largest Christian city, Qaraqosh, home to around 50,000 Christians prior to 2014.

Working alongside the Iraqi Army’s 9th Armored Division are the Nineveh Plains Protection Units(NPU), an ethnic Assyrian fighting force which is part of the effort to liberate their homeland during the Mosul offensive. So far, several villages and towns formerly under the Islamic State’s control have been liberated. (Click to Article)