The Iraqi government declared Christmas an official holiday for the first time this year. Here’s how it went:
- Thousands of Christians fled in the North to escape religious attacks.
- In the Shiite neighborhood of Shula, a bombing outside a restaurant killed four and injured 25.
- A pipeline was blown up in Kirkuk.
For Mariam Polis, who fled her home in Mosul a year ago after anti-Christian threats spread and two priests were killed, this Christmas was a day of bitterness.
“There’s not enough money, no house, no stability to prepare for Christmas Eve,” said the 55-year-old woman who now occupies a one-room clay house in the northern village of Ein Kawa. “It is better for us to die.”
So, how is this war working out again?
