Binding up the wounds of war

Targeted Christians and other religious minorities find shelter—for now—in Iraq’s northern provinces | Mindy Belz

Sarab (left) and Akram

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq— When Yousif Almashmos was born in March 2003, coalition bombs were falling outside. His family's Baghdad apartment swayed as his mother made her way to the hospital. Akram and Sarab Almashmos lived near headquarters for Saddam Hussein's security services, a prominent target for U.S. forces. Worse, Saddam had positioned rocket launchers between houses in the area, making them a target for U.S. heat-seekers.

Some neighbors died in those early days of the U.S. invasion, and when her baby was born, Sarab asked God, "Why are you protecting me? What is our purpose?" Holding her infant in her arms eight months later, she told WORLD she read her Bible that night and decided to name her fourth child Yousif, after the ancient patriarch Joseph, "because he is not here by accident. God has something for us."