The head of the Christian waqf (Christian charities) in Iraq, Abdullah Hermes Novell, said the number of Christians in Iraq has declined by half since 2003.
According to him, surveys indicate that 40 percent of the Iraqi refugees in Syria are Christians. He stressed that many Christians are missing, kidnapped or killed, but had no figures.
Religious extremists in Iraq, as well as Al-Qaeda, have pressured Iraqi Christians through intimidation or violence to leave their villages, particularly in the Sunni stronghold Province of Ninevah in the north.
Source: Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, September 15, 2010
