Baghdad -- With each passing year, the challenges threatening the Christian presence in Iraq continue to grow. A land that embraced Christianity in its earliest centuries has seen its Christian population subjected to persistent persecution and displacement. Since 2003, the number of Christians has fallen from more than 1.5 million to just 300,000 as a result of bombings and attacks targeting churches and Christian neighborhoods.

With the rise and territorial expansion of the Islamic State (ISIS), conditions deteriorated further, leading to the collapse of what remained of many Christian communities. Today, despite the liberation of these areas from ISIS, Christians remain trapped in the same cycle of fear and pressure.

Extremist Islamist groups are active across Iraq, alongside Iran-backed Shia militias, all of which threaten the Christian presence. Christian villages in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) have also come under attack during Turkish and Iranian military operations, forcing many residents to flee increasingly unstable and unsafe areas.

In addition, many Christian women now choose to wear the hijab to protect themselves from harassment or the threat of public stoning. Some face "honor killings" or sexual assault if their conversion to Christianity is discovered after previously being Muslims.

Meanwhile, Christian men lose jobs or face exploitation in the workplace because of their faith, placing their families at serious risk, as men are often the primary breadwinners.

Even Christian cemeteries have not been spared. In a systematic attempt to erase the Christian historical presence in Iraq, extremists have desecrated graves in the cemeteries of Shaqlawa and Armota. Last December, as the Christmas holiday approached, around 40 graves were deliberately destroyed in the Assyrian cemetery in Shaqlawa. This attack came only two weeks after a similar act of vandalism in Armota. According to Joseph Sliwa, head of the Beth Nahrain Patriotic Union (Huyodo d'Bethnahrin Athroyo, HBA), local authorities in both cases prevented filming of the damage so the issue would not attract public attention and media coverage, which could undermine the "false positive image" authorities in Arba'ilo (Erbil) seek to promote.

For many years, Iraqi elections have not reflected the country's true reality. Instead, they are used as political theater to install power brokers who tighten their grip over the state. Against this backdrop, and in order to prevent Christian rights from being forgotten, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church Mar Louis Raphaël I Sako issued a strong appeal to members of the Assyrian community in Iraq. He urged them not to support corrupt politicians or candidates linked to armed factions that control cities, resources, and the fate of the population in Nineveh Plains -- the historical homeland of Christian Assyrians.

Patriarch Sako warned against attempts to manipulate voters by internal and external actors, in what appeared to be a clear reference to Rayan al-Kildani and the "Babylon Movement," a faction affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and backed by Iran-aligned Shia groups.

"We will not accept that the Christian component be turned into fuel for the interests of these foreign forces," Sako said. He also expressed frustration over the Iraqi government's continued neglect of minority rights, stating, "Unfortunately, for more than 15 years, the Iraqi government has failed to protect the rights of minorities and to take concrete measures that guarantee their fair status and safeguard their representation and role."

Yet he also offered a glimmer of hope despite the bleak reality facing Iraq's Christians, saying, "Despite their wounds, Christians will not surrender, and they will continue their struggle to obtain their constitutional rights that guarantee their future and survival."

As these hardships persist, observers continue to ask whether Christians can endure further injustice in the land of their ancestors and the birthplace of their faith.