AT LEAST 500 Christian families have been displaced since Turkey began its illegal invasion of mountainous Duhok province in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, officials said today.

Among those targeted in Turkey’s Operation Claw Lightning, which began on April 23, is the village of Navkandalan in the Zakho district.

According to the Rudaw news agency, a media outlet with close ties to the region’s ruling Barzani family, Christians are demanding weapons from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to protect themselves.