Iraq (MNN) — This month, the United States’ nearly eleven-year military mission in Iraq transitions to a “bilateral security partnership.” The US Department of Defense announced the two-phase transition back in September 2024. US troops have already left a military base in Anbar Province.
The US military re-entered Iraq in 2014 to help counter the influence of ISIS in Iraq as well as Syria. Today, the fight against ISIS continues. Iraq is more stable, though some complexities exist because of America’s presence.
In an interesting paradox, Samuel* with Redemptive Stories says the stability is reversing how authorities interact with local Christians.
“In the past, they were too busy fighting wars between ISIS and/or civil war. There were higher things on the hierarchy of needs in terms of what the police force and the government [were] focused on,” he says.
(Representative stock photo courtesy of mhrezaa via Unsplash)
“But now, there’s enough space for them to again begin to attack Christians. So we’re seeing persecution, unfortunately, rise in Iraq.”
Although the influence of ISIS in Iraq is significantly diminished, don’t miss this fact: “To ‘get rid of’ them is a misnomer,” Samuel says, “because the ideology of that part of Sunni Islam is still there, and it will stay there. It is in the hearts and the thoughts of people.”
Jesus can transform people’s hearts and is doing this even now. Samuel says that in northern Iraq, witnessing boldly for Christ is possible. “God is working there, particularly among minority groups, including Christians [who] have stayed.”
Southern Iraq, where Shia Islam is predominant, is the most unreached area of the nation, Samuel says. “Yet one of the greatest tools God is using right now is continued media reaching into that space. We’re seeing lots of people come to faith and seek God.”
The gospel will continue to spread in Iraq at a price. In regions of the Middle East and across Africa where Islamic extremism is rampant, Christians need to prepare for suffering.
A house destroyed by war with ISIS in Sinjar, Iraq.
(Photo courtesy of Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash)
“The Christian life isn’t fair across the board. For me to be a Christian in certain contexts is easy; in other ones, much harder,” says Samuel.
Find your place in this story through prayer.
“We need bold leaders who are willing to walk that line of hearing God’s voice and knowing which way to go, like Paul did when danger came, and knowing which risks to take versus which not to,” says Samuel.
“We need to encourage our brothers and sisters, pray for them, and help them walk a path that’s bold and courageous, even in the midst of what they have to suffer.”
*Pseudonym
Header photo: A house destroyed by war with ISIS in Sinjar, Iraq. (Photo courtesy of Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash)
