Persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria fear that they are on the “brink of extinction” amid the genocidal actions of the Islamic State terror group. “We are a people on the brink of extinction,” Juliana Taimoorazy, a Chaldean Catholic and ethnic Assyrian, told the National Catholic Register in an interview published Wednesday. The report notes that hundreds of ancient Christian churches and places of worship have been destroyed by IS throughout Iraq and Syria, while millions of people have been forced to flee as refugees, and entire groups have been killed.

Large Christian communities have also been emptied, putting an end to thousands of years of history. “We gave a lot to Christianity as Eastern Christians, and we gave a lot to humanity as the Assyrian people: Our history is 6,700 years old, and we established the first library in the world, among other contributions,” added Taimoorazy, who is the the executive director and founder of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council. FULL REPORT