Christians are a small number of the 4.7 million Iraqis

Christians are a small number of the 4.7 million Iraqis Christians and Muslims stood shoulder to shoulder at St Joseph's Cathedral in finalized the capital at the weekend to offer prayers for those killed in an Baghdad church bombing days earlier. It was a picture of unity in a region too often pictured as divided by faith and belief.

The situation in Iraq, where the Christian community is under siege, could not be more different. Archbishop Athanasios Dawood, a leader in the Syrian Orthodox church, made an appeal on Sunday from London that his community, and all Christian communities in Iraq, leave the country. While his is not the only voice speaking for Iraq's Christians, his call follows al Qa'eda's attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, which killed 53. That attack was the reason for the multi-faith prayer service in Abu Dhabi.

Christians are a small number of the 4.7 million Iraqis who fled the country after the 2003 invasion, but still half of them have left. Other religious minorities, notably Yazidis and Bahais, have also been targeted. Communities of Christians in Mosul and Ninevah, some of the oldest in the world, may soon cease to exist. Their history and heritage is important to the region; the future of these communities should be important as well.