Since 2013

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Though IS forces were driven out of Mosul, Iraq, things are far from normal compared to pre-IS. 

Normal social networks have to be re-built. "A Christian writer who evacuated to Kurdistan says, “When I come back, I feel broken because my neighbors stood by and watched as our possessions were looted in front of their sight. Too many have bought into the ideology that we are infidels . .”

But still, "Christians in Iraq decorated war-torn Mosul with Christmas lights and Christmas trees and even had a visit from Santa for the first time since their last Christmas celebration in 2013."

“The community is still severely affected by the war, people are celebrating [Christmas] out of habit with dulled senses and cold emotions,” said Edward, who lives in an Assyrian Christian enclave in the Nineveh Plain."

photo: dailymail.co.uk