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Iran-Backed Militias Keeping Christians from Returning Home
(Wall Street Journal) Carl Anderson - Christian towns in Iraq increasingly look neither Christian nor Iraqi - but Iranian. The religious minorities persecuted under the ISIS caliphate remain in peril, thanks to the Iraqi government's tolerance of Iranian influence. With their towns liberated, displaced Christians hoped to return, rebuild and work for a better future. But as ISIS fell, Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces quickly took root in the devastated, previously Christian towns and have made life nearly unbearable for Christians attempting to return. Iranian proxies now are conducting a program of colonization in the Iraqi sector - building homes and centers for Iraq's Shiite majority in historically Christian towns. The writer is CEO of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization helping Christians in Iraq.