Christian families fled from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today (July 19, 2014) after Islamist fighters said they would be killed if they did not pay a protection tax or convert to Islam, the Telegraph (British) website reports.
"For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians," Patriarch Louis Sako lamented as hundreds of families fled ahead of today's noon deadline set by Islamic State (IS) for them to submit or leave.
The warning was read out in Mosul's mosques yesterday, and broadcast throughout the city on loudspeakers.
"We offer [Christians] three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract -- involving payment -- if they refuse this, they will have nothing but the sword," the announcement read. It said that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi -- who the group has now named Caliph Ibrahim -- had ordered Christians who did not want to stay and live under those terms to "leave the borders of the Islamic Caliphate."
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