Last fall, as coalition troops broke through the last major strongholds held by the so-called Islamic State, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech to the advocacy group In Defense of Christians in Washington, D.C. In what attendees said was an unexpected move, he focused a sizable portion of his remarks on attacking United Nations efforts to assist Iraqi minority religious groups whose ancient, ancestral homes were ravaged by the militants.
Few of the refugees are interested in returning to Iraq. “Return to what?” asks one Chaldean-Assyrian refugee. He says that “Iraq is a Frankenstein, not a state” because of the persistent ethnic and sectarian divisions.
After surviving ISIS, Christian communities in Nineveh face a new threat as Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi government troops backed by Shiite militias square off across the province.
Israel's 1978 Antiquities Law was tightened in 2012 and again last year, so that all licensed dealers are now required to share images of everything in their inventory.