BARTILLA, Iraq -- Throughout its Iraq campaign, ISIS
(Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has targeted Christians.
While Christians refused to talk on camera, CBN News talked to one of the house church leaders.
Pastor Majeed, CBN News' guide, drove with us toward
Nineveh where most of the country's besieged Christians have fled. It
wasn't long until we went as far as the Kurdish army, called the
Peshmerga, would allow us to go.
"So this is the end line. We cannot go any more," Majeed explained.
About 25,000 Christians have fled to Bartilla, but
CBN News couldn't find one who would talk on camera out of fear of
retribution.
The conditions in Bartilla are abysmal. There's no
water because ISIS turned it off. And there's no electricity because
Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government turned that off.
People here are protected by the Peshmerga, who have set up a perimeter around the town and a few other towns in the area.
These people know that ISIS could come in and kill
most of the people here. They're asking for prayer from Christians
around the world. One Christian leader said they're asking for prayer
just as the Apostle Paul did, praying that God will protect the town and
the region.
On our way back to the Kurdish capital, Erbil,
Pastor Majeed told us when ISIS captured Nineveh, it gave Christian
residents three choices: obey, pay or leave.
"That they are not allowed to open their churches.
And even if they open them they will burn the churches," Majeed
explained. "And also the Christians have been requested -- been asked to
pay the tax [dhimmi, the tax for non-Muslims under Islamic rule]."
"If not, they can leave Nineveh," he continued. "And
if they don't leave and don't pay the tax, they should give their
heads."
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