Call for an Emergency Intervention in Northern Iraq to Stop Ethnic Cleansing
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) August 05, 2014 -- The Middle East Christian Committee (MECHRIC) expresses its extreme concerns about the ethnic cleansing taking place in Mosul and Northern Iraq, including lately around the Nineveh Plain and in the Sinjar district. Since the ethnic cleansing of all Iraqi Christians (Assyrians, Syriacs, Chaldeans and others) from the city of Mosul, and the execution of a number of individual Shia, Shabak, Turkomen, Yezidis, as well as the elimination of Sunni moderates, all at the hands of the “Islamic State” forces known also as Daesh-ISIS-ISIL, the international community hasn't responded to the massive breach of human rights, the massacres, and the humanitarian disaster, including hundreds of thousands of refugees flocking to Iraqi Kurdistan.
Today, MECHRIC received several reports confirming that the forces of the “Islamic State” have invaded the district of Sinjar, taking over several villages, capturing women and children, and executing men, mostly from the Yezidi community. Till the date of this press release, ethnic cleansing continues to take place between Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iraqi-Syria border at the hands of the same Jihadist militia. Tens of thousands of Yezidis and Christians, including Turkomen and other groups, are taking refuge in the mountains with no means to survive.
The Autonomous Government of Iraqi Kurdistan is not equipped with air force capacities and is barely able to defend its own districts. The Iraqi Army has collapsed in Northern and Central Iraq, and cannot act in the disaster areas. An intervention by Iranian units would explode the entire regional situation and draw other countries into intervention.
In view of the humanitarian disaster, we are issuing this open call to the Government of the United States and the Five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council to address the matter immediately. We urge the US Administration to use its air force assets to draw a red line to stop the advancing Terror forces of ISIS-Daesh. This is a genocide in the making, and the United States can stop it from unfolding by using its air capabilities with the full support of the endangered population. This call is very specific to an immediate emergency action to stop an ongoing ethnic cleansing.
MECHRIC is in contact with the US Government and the members of the UN Security Council to offer ideas about future solutions, but at this point, we are urging the US to take action first.
Signed
Tom Harb: Secretary General
Magdi Khalil Deputy Secretary General
MECHRIC is a coalition of Middle East Christian NGOs founded in 1982 to ensure an international representation of Copts, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Maronites, Arab Melkite Catholics, Arab Orthodox, Iranian Christians, and Protestants in the Greater Middle East.
For attribution purposes please see http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/has-last-christian-left-iraqi-city-mosul-after-2-000-n164856
David William Lazar, American Mesopotamian Organization, http://www.americanmesopotamian.org, +1 661-220-0372, [email protected]
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