Massacre of Semail
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In 1933, thousands of Christian Assyrians were massacred in various villages in Northern Iraq; the village of Semail was hit especially hard.
The British mandate in Iraq ended in 1933, and a group of Christian Assyrians was negotiating with the French authorities for settlement of their families in Syria. Some 800 Assyrians attempted to cross the river Khabur, the newly determined border between Syria and Irak. The French authorities deemed their emigration illegal, and all were returned to Iraq. On the Iraki side of the river they clashed with Iraqi Government troops. 530 Assyrians fled back into Syria and were interned in prison camps. All Assyrians captured by the Iraqis were killed.
This event and the pent-up agression against Assyrians led to the 1933 Massacre of Smail. A rumour spread among the Iraqi people that Christian Assyrians were plundering Iraqi homes in Northern Iraq. The Iraqi managed to gain the help of the Kurdish and Arab tribes in the areas, and approximately 60 Assyrian villages were destroyed with the assistance of the Iraqi military. The Assyrians were herded together, and every male over 10 years old was taken out and shot. In Semail 350 people were massacred by the Iraqi army, and this deed was celebrated as the end of the Assyrian uprising. The total Assyrian deathcount was estimated at 9,000.
The Assyrian Christian Patriarch, Mar Shimun XXIII, who was arrested and detained in Baghdad, repeatedly attempted to inform his diplomatic contacts and the League of Nations about the event. After the massacre Mar Shimun XXIII was stripped of his Iraqi citizenship and deported to Cyprus with his family.
