The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil – the city in Iraqi Kurdistan where thousands of Christians have fled to safety from Islamic State fighters -‘begged’ Britain to send troops to his country to help save Christians there from being wiped out. He said an estimated 125,000 Christians in northern Iraq have been forced to abandon their homes around the Nineveh Plains since the rise of the terrorist group. He said their fate should be of concern to the world.
Speaking in London on 9 February, Archbishop Bashar Warda said it was ‘very hard’ for him as a Catholic Archbishop to advocate deploying troops but felt there was no other option.
‘Politicians, I beg you… we really do need military action,’ he said. ‘This is worse than what happened in Afghanistan.’
He added that combatting the group is an international responsibility, and singled out the growing number of radicalised Muslim youths from Western countries who are pulled in by the ‘Hollywood’ lure of fighting in his country.