Persecution of Christians by the Islamic State

the persecution of Christians by the Islamic State involves the systematic mass murder of Christian minorities, within the regions of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria controlled by the Islamic extremist group Islamic State. Persecution of Christian minorities climaxed following the Syrian civil war and later by its spillover but has since intensified further. Christians have been subjected to massacres, forced conversions, rape, sexual slavery, and the systematic destruction of their historical sites, churches and other places of worship.

Persecution of Christians by (IS)
Part of Syrian civil war War in Iraq (2013–2017) Sinai insurgency Second Libyan civil war Boko Haram insurgency Kivu conflict Insurgency in Cabo Delgado
Chaldean Catholic Church
Location	Territory of the Islamic State Iraq Egypt Syria Libya Nigeria Democratic Republic of the Congo Mozambique
Date	Ongoing
Target	Christians (mostly Assyrians, Arab Christians, Armenians, Copts, Citadel Christians, and other groups)
Attack type	Genocidal massacre, religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, human trafficking and forced conversions to Sunni Islam.
Victims	1,000,000–2,280,000 1,080,000 (1,2 million to 120,000) depopulated in Iraq (2011–2024) 1,200,000 (1,5 million to 300,000) depopulated in Syria
Perpetrators	Islamic State
Motive	Christianophobia Islamic extremism

According to US diplomat Alberto M. Fernandez, "While the majority of the victims of the conflict which is raging in Syria and Iraq have been Muslims, Christians have borne a heavy burden given their small numbers."

The depopulation of Christians from the Middle East by the Islamic State as well as other organisations and governments has been formally recognised as an ongoing genocide by the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom. Christians remain the most persecuted religious group in the Middle East, and Christians in Iraq are “close to extinction”. According to estimates by the US State Department, the number of Christians in Iraq has fallen from 1.2 million 2011 to 120,000 in 2024, and the number in Syria from 1.5 million to 300,000, falls driven by persecution by terrorist groups and repression by authoritarian regimes

Timeline

The mass flight and expulsion of ethnic Assyrians from Iraq and Syria is a process which was initiated during the start of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and the Multi-National Force and later it was initiated during the start of the Syrian civil war and the spillover. Leaders of Iraq's Assyrian community estimate that over two-thirds of the Iraqi Assyrian population may have fled the country or been internally displaced during the U.S.-led invasion which lasted from 2003 until 2011. Reports suggest that whole neighborhoods of Assyrians have cleared out in the cities of Baghdad and Basra, and that Sunni insurgent groups and militias have threatened Assyrian Christians. Following the campaign of the Islamic State in northern Iraq in August 2014, one quarter of the remaining Assyrians fled the jihadists, finding refuge in neighboring countries.