Iraq will have no more Christians in five years, warns Asyrrian priest

There might no longer be Christians in Iraq in five years' time because of the persecution they face in the hands of the Islamic State terror group, said an Assyrian priest.

"Everyone sees himself outside Iraq in a few years," Father Martin Hermis Dawood told The Telegraph. "They have lost their hope of staying. In five years, you will see only a few families who are unable to leave, maybe a few priests."

Dawood said that he used to tell the members of his congregation to be strong, to stay together, and to hope in the midst of sectarian violence in the country. However, he changed his advice following the arrival of IS otherwise known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh.

"I tell them one thing," he told the publication, "if you are thinking about leaving, go now, do not wait."

The number of Christians in Iraq, according to estimates, is down to less than 400,000, a huge decline from 1.3 million two decades ago. They largely have no choice but to flee, otherwise they would suffer the consequences. In 2014 in Mosul and surrounding areas, for instance, the residents were made to choose -- either pay extra tax or leave. Those who decided to leave had their homes and properties confiscated. Those who refused to either pay or leave were often imprisoned and even tortured.

"All Christian families living in Iraq, including those who have never met Isil, they are thinking about leaving Iraq," said Dawood. "When I know that something has happened to Christian families in Mosul, I will think it will happen to me as well, if not today, then tomorrow."

According to the priest, the Christians in his country suffer even for events that take place abroad. For instance, when a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed was published in the Netherlands, gangs assaulted Christians in Iraq.

"We know very well that not every Muslim here is a terrorist, but there is a culture rising, not only here in Iraq, but in the Middle East," he said. "There's a struggle happening in the whole world and we will be burned in this fire in the future."

The fight against Daesh is still ongoing, and a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defence said that the terror group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. In a report by ABC, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the Islamist have already lost around 45 percent of the territory it used to occupy in Iraq and somewhere between 16 and 20 percent in Syria. The Iraqi government is more optimistic in its estimates, as spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said, according to Reuters, that ISIS used to occupy 40 percent of Iraqi territory in 2014 but it is now down to 14 percent.

There are some Iraqi Christians, however, who say that they might not want to return even if their homes are liberated.