Qaraqosh Protection Committee
{{Infobox War Faction
|name=Qaraqosh Protection Committee
|war=the Iraq War and the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive
|image=
|caption=
|inactive=2008–2014
|leaders=Sarkis Aghajan Mamendo
Sabah Behnem
|clans=
|area=Ninawa Governorate
|size= 1,200{{cite web |url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/qaraqosh/45000assyriansiraqis// |title=45000 Assyrians Iraqis |work=Aftonbladet |access-date=August 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140815210624/http://www.aftonbladet.se/qaraqosh/45000assyriansiraqis// |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 15, 2014}}
|partof= Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council{{cite web |url=http://www.ishtartv.com/viewarticle,73116.html |title=In response to statements made by MP Imad Juhanna... |work=IshtarTV.com |language=ar |date=6 February 2017 |access-date=31 May 2017}}
|predecessor=
|successor=
|allies= 25px Iraqi Armed Forces
25px Peshmerga
25px Asayish
25px Nineveh Plain Protection Units
|opponents= 25px Al-Qaeda in Iraq
25px Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
|battles=
}}
The Qaraqosh Protection Committee (also known as the Nineveh Plains Security Forces) is an armed militia formed by Assyrians living in the city of Bakhdida, in Ninawa Governorate of Iraq. The committee, formed in 2004, was organized through local churches, and began manning checkpoints and was soon working with the Iraqi police.{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95343489 |work=NPR | title=Christian Security Forces Growing Stronger In Iraq |date=2008-10-06 |access-date=2012-04-08}}
Persecution during the Iraq War
Assyrians in post-Saddam Iraq have faced a high rate of persecution by Fundamentalist Islamists since the beginning of the Iraq War. By early August 2004, this persecution included church bombings, and fundamentalist groups' enforcement of Muslim codes of behavior upon Assyrian Christians, e.g., banning alcohol, forcing women to wear hijab.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3529364.stm |title=Analysis: Iraq's Christians under attack |first=Magdi |last=Abdelhadi |date=2004-08-02 |website=BBC News |access-date=2010-05-22}} The violence against the community has led to the exodus of perhaps as much as half of the community. While Assyrians only made up 5% of the total Iraqi population before the war, according to the United Nations, Assyrians comprise as much as 40% of the growing Iraqi refugees who are stranded in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_celebrating_christmas |author=Qais al-Bashir, Associated Press |title=Iraqi Christians celebrate Christmas |website=Yahoo! News |date=2006-12-25 |access-date=2007-01-07}}{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}
The coordinator for the Qaraqosh Protection Committee, Sabah Behnem, said outside agendas—from the Sunnis of al-Qaeda to the Shi'a in Iran—were "behind the efforts to displace Iraqi Christians."
On Tuesday, October 12, 2010, the Qaraqosh Protection Committee, in coordination with the Kurdish Asayish Forces, captured Ali Muhammad Idris Sadeq, a top Al-Qaeda leader, in the town of Qaraqosh (Bakhdida).{{cite web |url=http://en.ado-world.org/news/iraq/article/breaking-news-top-al-qaeda-leader |title=Top Al-Qaeda Leader Captured in Baghdeda |date=12 October 2010 |website=Assyrian Democratic Organization |access-date=13 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016212151/http://en.ado-world.org/news/iraq/article/breaking-news-top-al-qaeda-leader |archive-date=16 October 2014}}
The Qaraqosh Protection Committee reorganized after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant overran the Nineveh Plains in 2014. It is now known as the Nineveh Plains Security Forces and cooperates closely with the Kurdish Peshmerga and Asayish.{{cite web |url=http://n-p-g-f.com/ar/?page_id=60 |title=Who we are |work=Nineveh Plains Security Forces |language=ar |access-date=31 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018105453/http://n-p-g-f.com/ar/?page_id=60 |archive-date=18 October 2017 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/03/13/Iraq-s-first-Christian-brigade-formed-to-battle-ISIS.html |author=AFP |title=Iraq's first Christian brigade to battle ISIS |website=Al Arabiya English |date=13 March 2015 |access-date=31 May 2017}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Nineveh plains}}
{{Armed Iraqi groups in the Iraq War and the Iraq Civil War}}
Category:Anti-ISIL factions in Iraq
Category:Assyrian organizations
Category:Christianity in Nineveh Governorate
Category:Factions in the Iraq War
Category:Organizations established in 2008
Category:Paramilitary forces of Iraq
Category:Religious paramilitary organizations
{{Iraq-stub}}