{{Short description|Town in Nineveh, Iraq}} {{Infobox settlement | official_name = Karamlesh | native_name = ܟܪܡܠܫ | nickname = | motto = | image_skyline = | imagesize = 250px | image_caption = Shrine of Mart Barbara in Karamlesh. | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_shield = | image_map = | mapsize = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Iraq | pushpin_label_position = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Iraq | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Nineveh | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Al-Hamdaniya District | parts_type = Occupation | parts_style = para| | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 = | leader_name1 = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | established_title = | established_date = | established_title2 = | established_date2 = | established_title3 = | established_date3 = | area_footnotes = | area_magnitude = | area_total = | TotalArea_sq_mi = | area_land = | LandArea_sq_mi = | area_water = | WaterArea_sq_mi = | area_water_percent = | area_urban = | UrbanArea_sq_mi = | area_metro = | MetroArea_sq_mi = | population_as_of = 2018 | population_footnotes = | population_note = 3,000 prior to ISIS invasion | population_total = 1,000+ | population_density = <!--Note: use population_footnotes for refs, use only unformatted numbers here --> | population_density_mi2 = <!--Note: use population_footnotes for refs, use only unformatted numbers here --> | population_metro = <!--Note: use population_footnotes for refs, use only unformatted numbers here --> | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_mi2 = | population_urban = | timezone = GMT +3 | utc_offset = | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = {{coord|36|18|13|N|43|24|46|E|region:IQ-NI|display=inline,title}} | elevation_footnotes = | elevation = | elevation_ft = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | website = | footnotes = | twin1 = | twin1_country = }} '''Karamlesh''' ({{langx|syr|ܟܪܡܠܫ}},<ref>{{cite book |last1=Borghero |first1=Roberta |title=Neo-Aramaic Dialect Studies |publisher=Gorgias Press |isbn=978-1-4632-1161-5 |pages=75–90 |chapter=Some Features of the Verbal System of the Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Karamlesh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Bahra no 192 Sun. 3 Oct. 2010|url=http://www.zowaa.co.uk/pdfpaper/a%20192/8.pdf|access-date=16 July 2020|website=zowaa.co.uk}}</ref> {{langx|ar|كرمليس}}; also spelled ''Karemlash'', ''Karemles'', ''Karemlish'', etc.) is a town in northern Iraq located less than {{convert|18|mi|km}} south east of Mosul.
It is surrounded by many hills that along with it made up the historical Assyrian city of Kar-Mullissi (written URU.kar-<sup>d</sup>NIN.LÍL<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/cbd/qpn-x-places/qpn-x-places.x001961.html |title=rinap/rinap3/qpn-x-places/Kar-Mullissi[1] |website=oracc.museum.upenn.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020041707/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/cbd/qpn-x-places/qpn-x-places.x001961.html |archive-date=2016-10-20}}</ref>), which means "the city of Mullissu" in Akkadian. Its Assyrian residents fled to Kurdistan Region because of the planned escape from the Peshmerga following the invasion of the town by ISIS forces in August 2014. The town was liberated by Iraqi Security Forces from ISIS rule on October 24, 2016, as part of the larger Battle of Mosul.
== History ==
===Patriarchal seat of the Church of the East=== Karemlash was the seat of the Nestorian patriarch Denha II (1336/7–1381/2) for at least part of his reign. The continuator of the ''Ecclesiastical History'' of Bar Hebraeus mentions several contacts between Denha II and the Jacobite church in Karamlish between 1358 and 1364. At this period Karemlash had Jacobite and Armenian communities alongside its Nestorian majority, and its village chiefs styled themselves 'emirs'. The prosperity enjoyed by the village during the reign of Denha II presumably came to an end when the patriarchate was relocated to Mosul at an unknown date in the fourteenth or fifteenth century.<ref>Wilmshurst, ''EOCE'', 218–19</ref>
===After Iraq War=== Karemlash was relatively calm following the US-led Iraq War. In late 2003, the town came briefly under the control of the 101st Airborne Division (377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion).<ref>"U.S. Soldiers Adopt Assyrian Village with Educational Results" - www.Gulf1.com, 28 December 2003; Spc. Joshua Hutcheson</ref>
The town showed strong support towards the Assyrian Democratic Movement during the parliamentary and local elections in 2005, 2007 and 2010.<ref>[http://www.zahrira.net/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=1391 نتائج الانتخابات في سهل نينوى Zahrira.net]</ref> The town also received thousands of Assyrian and other Christian refugees from other parts of the country after waves of violence against them. In response to the influx of refugees, Sarkis Aghajan and the Supreme Committee of Christian Affairs built and renovated new homes, churches, cemeteries, infrastructure and a complex for Armenian Refugees, among other improvements.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ishtartv.com/en/viewarticle,35768.html|title = Karamles}}</ref>
On August 6, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took over the town, causing all of its inhabitants to flee to Erbil. During their occupation of the city, they burned an 80-year-old Assyrian woman to death for "failing to comply with the strict laws of the Islamic State"<ref>[http://www.basnews.com/en/news/2015/05/26/islamic-state-militants-burn-christian-woman-in-nineveh-village/ BasNews Islamic State Militants Burn Christian Woman in Nineveh Village] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527020806/http://www.basnews.com/en/news/2015/05/26/islamic-state-militants-burn-christian-woman-in-nineveh-village/ |date=2015-05-27 }}</ref> and destroyed a large portion of the historic Mar Behnam Monastery.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-blows-famed-4th-century-mar-behnam-catholic-monastery-iraq-1492703|title=Isis 'blows up famed 4th-century Mar Behnam Catholic monastery' in Iraq|date=19 March 2015}}</ref>
On October 24, 2016, the city was liberated by the Iraqi Army, which on the same day, returned crosses to the domes of some of the main churches.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://twitter.com/Bassam_Nasralla/status/790560992975523840|title=بسام النصرالله on Twitter|newspaper=Twitter|access-date=2016-10-24}}</ref>
==Security== The Popular Mobilization Forces currently run the security in the Town.<ref>[https://50f3ad00-5b28-4016-898f-6130d301c97a.filesusr.com/ugd/6ae567_98f8f8912baa40949a18a3a0b717eaea.pdf Contested Control: The Future of Security in Iraq's Nineveh Plain].</ref>
== People ==
* Thabet Habib Yousif Al Mekko (1976–2025), Catholic bishop of Mosul.
==See also== *List of Assyrian settlements *Assyrian homeland *Assyrians in Iraq *Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq *Bartella *Bakhdida
==Gallery== <gallery class="center"> Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh6.JPG| Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh8.JPG| Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh9.jpg| Image:Iraqvillagekaramlesh2.JPG| </gallery>
==References== ''Originally based on an article by Habib Hannona and Fred Aprim on karemlash.com, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, used with permission.'' <references/>
{{Nineveh Plains}}
Category:Assyrian communities in Iraq Category:Populated places in Nineveh Governorate Category:Nineveh Plains