Iraqi army deploys in Mosul to protect Christians

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi army forces deployed on Monday in regions with a Christian population to protect them from any aggression, the official spokesman for Ninewa’s operations command said. “The forces deployed in these regions and set up checkpoints and organized 24-hour patrols,” Brig. Khaled Abdul Sattar told IraqiNews.com. “The troops informed Christians in these regions they exist for their protection and gave them the hot-line number to call the Ninewa operations center in case they were threatened,” he added. For his part, a priest told IraqiNews.com they performed a mass on Sunday in some churches in Mosul amid tight security measures, noting they felt secured and comfortable. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. The original city of Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. Despite having an amount of Kurdish population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG). There are different communities in Mosul like Christians, Shiites and Kurds along with a Sunni majority. The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named for this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble. The city is also a historic center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum. SH (S)/SR 1