The UNPO expresses grave concern over the deteriorating situation facing Assyrian communities in Iraq and Syria, as documented in reports submitted by its members.
The Assyrians are an Indigenous people of ancient Mesopotamia, whose homeland spans parts of present-day Iraq, Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. Their identity is closely linked to their Christian faith, and they constitute one of the world’s oldest continuous Christian communities, having survived empires, forced displacement, and genocide during the First World War. Today, they are confronted with an accelerating crisis of demographic collapse, militia violence, and political marginalisation across their historic territories.
Iraq
In Iraq, Assyrians living in the Nineveh Plain continue to face a fragile and deeply contested security environment more than eight to nine years after the area’s liberation from ISIS in 2017. Iraq’s 2005 Constitution formally guarantees freedom of religious belief and practice and reserves five seats in the Council of Representatives for Christians. However, these protections have not translated into effective security or meaningful political representation.
Personal status laws further restrict religious freedom: conversion from Islam is prohibited, and children born to parents of different religions are administratively designated as Muslim if one parent is Muslim.
Security control is divided among Iraqi federal forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, various factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and local Assyrian units, creating overlapping jurisdictions and a persistent absence of coordinated governance.
Among the PMF factions active in Assyrian areas are the Shabak-affiliated Brigade 30 and the Babylon Brigades, led by Rayan al-Kildani, a figure sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019 for serious human rights abuses, including extortion, harassment, and illegal land seizures. Iran-backed militias have also exercised increasing control over checkpoints and territory, placing coercive pressure on Christian families, including pressure to sell their land.
The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU), a locally formed Assyrian security force established in response to the ISIS invasion of 2014, continues to operate and represents the community’s only Indigenous security presence.
The Assyrian Universal Alliance’s latest report underscores that the absence of constitutional recognition of Assyrians as an Indigenous people creates a legal void that denies the community specific protections and undermines their political and cultural legitimacy within the Iraqi state.
As a result, large numbers of Assyrian families remain displaced inside Iraq or abroad. The Christian population of Iraq has declined from approximately 1.5 million in the early 2000s to around 140,000 today.
Before the 2014 ISIS assault, the Nineveh Plain alone was home to more than 100,000 Christians; despite some returns, only a fraction have been able to go back. Continued instability, weak economic recovery, property dispossession, and the absence of genuine security guarantees have driven especially young Assyrians to emigrate, further eroding the community’s demographic and political presence in their historical homeland.
Source: Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM)
Syria
In Syria, the situation facing Assyrians has deteriorated since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, with communities reporting increasing insecurity. The transitional phase has been marked by weak central authority, the proliferation of armed factions, and a wave of sectarian violence targeting multiple minorities.
Alawites have been subjected to large-scale massacres, Druze communities have faced violent clashes, and Christians, including Assyrians, have been targeted by specific attacks and threats. The most devastating incident was the bombing of Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus in June 2025, in which at least 25 worshippers were killed and more than 60 injured when an attacker opened fire during the Divine Liturgy before detonating an explosive vest. Syrian authorities attributed the attack to ISIS-linked groups, though responsibility remains disputed.
In March 2025, a Turkish strike also hit the Mar Sawa Church in Tel Tawil, which had previously been damaged in an earlier strike. Reports further document vandalism of churches and cemeteries, sectarian threats, forced displacement of Christian families, and the ongoing confiscation of Assyrian-owned property.
These conditions undermine not only the exercise of religious freedom, but also access to education, the functioning of community institutions, and the preservation of cultural and demographic continuity. Assyrian communities in Syria face compounding vulnerabilities as they are small in number, geographically dispersed across northeast Syria and major cities, and weakly represented in a rapidly shifting political landscape.
The Assyrian Universal Alliance has called for the repeal of discriminatory laws and the return of properties unjustly confiscated from Assyrian families, alongside the official recognition of the Assyrian language as one of Syria’s living cultural and linguistic heritages.
Demands for recognition and cultural rights have yet to be addressed by the transitional authorities.
Source: Assyrian Democratic Party (ADP)
Conclusion
The UNPO has consistently advocated for the rights of Assyrians as an unrepresented people whose survival in their historic homeland is at stake.
The threats they face must be understood not as isolated incidents, but as an attack on their collective rights and self-determination. This includes the right to remain on their ancestral lands in safety, to preserve their cultural and religious identity, and to participate meaningfully in political, economic, and security decisions affecting their future. Without these conditions, the continued erosion of the Assyrian presence in Mesopotamia risks becoming irreversible.
The UNPO calls for the full recognition of Assyrians as an Indigenous people in Iraq and Syria, the protection and restitution of Assyrian-owned land and property, the repeal of discriminatory laws and practices, and the meaningful inclusion of Assyrian representatives in all political, constitutional, and peacebuilding processes. These measures are essential to ensuring the long-term survival, dignity, and self-determination of the Assyrian people.
References
Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) – Iraq field reporting and analysis
Assyrian Democratic Party (ADP) – Syria field reporting and analysis
