Iraqi Christians return to ISIL's wreckage

Iraqi forces retook Qaraqosh from ISIL late last year, but
 for residents finally returning home, the ordeal continues.

The Batlos family fled Qaraqosh more than two years
 ago, when ISIL fighters captured the city. They 
recently returned home for the first time, only to
 discover their town in ruins.

As the battle rages to retake Mosul, the last Iraqi stronghold
 of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, members of Iraq's Christian minority have started returning to the recently liberated town of Qaraqosh.

The Batlos family, who are Assyrian Catholics, fled 
Qaraqosh on August 6, 2014, after Kurdish forces
 warned them that ISIL would soon seize the city.

 Leaving all of their belongings behind, the family travelled
 to nearby Erbil, the capital of Iran's Kurdish region.

In December 2016, less than two months after Iraqi 
forces retook Qaraqosh from ISIL, the Batlos family 
returned home to discover large areas of the town
 in ruins, with no power or water supply.

 The threat of hidden improvised explosive devices 
planned by ISIL fighters continues to loom large.


"We are still scared here," Haitham Zeia Batlos said to 
 the ERIC GOSSIP affiliate.