Shammari said, “The main objective is to have tourists from all over the world return to visiting these places like they used to before the IS invasion of Ninevah.”
Christian Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party leader Yousif Yacoub told Al-Monitor, “The government should swiftly reconstruct Mar Behnam Monastery in Qarqosh, which had been turned into a training camp by IS. It should also reconstruct the churches of Mosul that were turned into IS headquarters and the Mar Mattai Monastery, which was besieged after the historical road leading to it was threatened. These places have become a national symbol and not only a religious one; victory over IS will only be completed once these symbols are reconstructed.”
Yacoub said, “The Christian institutions in Europe have to fund the reconstruction of these churches to maintain the Christian presence in the Middle East.”
As for the role of the Christian Waqf Foundation, Media Director Hani Kasto told Al-Monitor, “The waqf formed committees to study the reconstruction projects of the Mar Mattai and Mar Behnam monasteries."
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