After Defeat of ISIS, Iraq's Assyrians and Yazidis Adjust to Uneasy Peace

[TomSea]

After Defeat of ISIS, Iraq's Assyrians and Yazidis Adjust to Uneasy Peace
By Nolan Peterson


Assyrians gather to watch the sunset from the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh, Iraq ( Nolan Peterson/The Daily Signal)

ST. MATTHEW'S MONASTERY, Iraq -- Some 20 miles from Mosul in northern Iraq's Nineveh Plains, this Christian monastery has stood high on the slopes of Mount Alfaf since the year 363. Once home to about 7,000 monks in the ninth century, it's among the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.

Over the centuries, St. Matthew's Monastery has survived attacks by Kurds, Muslim tribes, and the Mongol emperor Tamerlane. Yet perhaps the direst threat of all came in 2014 when the Islamic State's terrorist army rampaged across Syria and northern Iraq to take control of Mosul.

Bolstered by a U.S.-led bombing campaign, a force of Kurdish peshmerga fighters--who are Sunni Muslims--stopped the advancing Islamic State militants just 2.5 miles from the beige stone citadel of St. Matthew's.

Today, Christians from Mosul and the surrounding villages make the trek up to the historic Syriac Orthodox monastery every Sunday to celebrate mass.

Read more at: http://aina.org/news/20190728190846.htm