Iraq's Assyrian Christians fear ISIS threat to heritage
Assyrian Christian community leaders tell Al-Monitor that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has not yet destroyed ancient Assyrian and Christian artifacts in Mosul.
![Sparrows sit on crosses at St. Matthew's monastery on Mount Maqloub, northeast of Mosul in Northern Iraq, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad January 7, 2004. [The Assyrian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated today with reference to the Julian calendar, which has a difference of two weeks to the Gregorian calendar.] - RTXMDTW](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_large/public/almpics/2014/07/RTXMDTW.jpg/RTXMDTW.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=6PoUy9lE "IRAQ")
ALQOSH, Iraq — When militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) — now known as the Islamic State — stormed Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, on June 10, Um Hanna and her extended seven-member family hastily rushed toward the safer town of Alqosh, 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the north.
In Alqosh, the family lives in a two-room house offered to them free of charge by a local resident. As a Christian family, they thought if they stayed in Mosul their fate would be annihilation at the hand of the militants.
