By Church Leaders
Churches and monasteries throughout the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are being attacked by the Sunni group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The group, an offshoot of al-Qaeda formed last April, is looting and burning churches throughout the city in the Nineveh province and is forcing all women to wear the Islamic veil, even Christians. Tens of thousands are flooding into the Nineveh Plain and the border crossings of surrounding countries. Thousands of Christians are among them.
ISIS militants took control of Masul on Tuesday, June 10, meeting with little resistance from Iraqi security forces. Earlier this year, the group captured the city of Fallujah in western Iraq and also control parts of the city of Ramadi. ISIS is also one of the major terrorist groups currently fighting against government forces in Syria.