12/13/2018 Iraq (International Christian Concern) – Iraq’s Endowment of the Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, and Mandeans has requested that these groups transfer their properties in Old Mosul so that they can be permanently removed. These properties, which were already severely damaged by ISIS, experienced further damage due to recent floods and rains. The properties are now considered beyond repair.
While many religious minorities had already expressed a strong lack of desire to ever return home to Mosul, the recent damage on top of ISIS’s destruction ensures that they cannot return. When ISIS knew that their defeat was inevitable, they embraced a scorched earth policy with the intention of making rebuilding impossible. The hardships of reconstruction have only compounded since then.
Iraq claims that the damage done by ISIS will cost over $80 billion to repair. Most of this damage occurred in areas that were traditionally inhabited by religious minorities. In addition to the cost of repairing ISIS’s damage, displacement was a significant financial burden on religious minorities. Having an asset transform from severely damaged to beyond repair is a weighty event for religious minorities who remain displaced. The weather would not have so significantly affected these assets had ISIS not so severely damaged them in the first place.
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