she exclaimed as she watched the images at a camp for displaced Iraqis in Irbil, the Kurdish regional capital. Iraqi special forces pushed into Bartella, nine miles (15 kilometers) from Mosul's outskirts, on Thursday, after fending off a wave of suicide truck attacks. As Iraqi soldiers raised the national flag over the building, they rang the church bell to signal its liberation. They were also glued to the TV on Friday, watching as Iraqi forces fought their way across the Ninevah plains. For the Christians of Bartella, at least, the town's church is still standing, a foundation on which a community scattered by war may one day gather again.

Source: Fox News October 21, 2016 19:52 UTC