altBaghdad – There are already at least seven hundred Christian families from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain living as refugees in makeshift housing and accommodation in Baghdad, after being forced to leave their homes due to the offensive of the jihadist Islamic State (IS). This was confirmed in statements sent to Agenzia Fides by Raad Jalil Kajaji, head of the finance Office for Christians, Yazidis, Sabean and Mandaeans, adding that the number of Christian refugees who have arrived in the capital continues to increase day by day, and urges international relief organizations to support the local authorities more vigorously in addressing this humanitarian emergency.

Jalil, who on 27 October, had a long conversation with the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans Louis Raphael I at the headquarters of the Patriarchate, said that there is lack of government funds and the living conditions of the refugees – also housed in schools, churches and places of Christian associations – is bound to get worse with the arrival of the winter season.

According to sources of the Ministry of migration and refugees, there is a total of more than 19 thousand displaced families of northern Iraq who have found shelter in Baghdad.

By: Agenzia Fides