people in 1891. In 1913, Batnaya was inhabited by 2,500 Chaldean Catholics with three priests. The church of Mar Quriaqos was rebuilt in 1944. By 1961, the population of Batnaya had reached 3104 people. Batnaya was abandoned on 6 August 2014 as its population fled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) offensive in Northern Iraq, prior to which the village was inhabited by around 5000 people. The Peshmerga seized control of Batnaya from ISIL on 20 October 2016 after a battle against over 100 ISIL fighters amidst the battle of Mosul. In the battle, the village was mostly destroyed and 60 ISIL fighters and 8 Peshmerga soldiers were killed. ISIL fighters had inflicted significant damage to the village as the church of Mart Maryam, which had been used as a weapons dump, was blown up whilst the church of Mar Quriaqos was ransacked, and only 1% of the village's 997 houses was still intact. In cooperation with Canadian, French, and American teams, the Peshmerga subsequently set about clearing the village of mines and bombs planted by ISIL fighters. Batnaya hence came under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government, which, however, is disputed by the Iraqi government. In November 2018, half of the village's population still resided at a refugee camp at Tesqopa. The village has since undergone reconstruction as the United Nations Development Programme restored 400 houses, and the first 10 families returned to Batnaya in May 2019. Eventually, 300 people had returned by February 2020, and the village's population grew to 720 people by the following year. Notable people Shlemon Warduni (b. 1943), Chaldean Catholic bishop References Bibliography See also Assyrian homeland Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq Populated places in Nineveh Governorate Assyrian communities in Iraq Nineveh Plains