Most of the Assyrians living in Nahla , which number around 20,000 , moved there from Hakkari after the Assyrian Genocide that occurred during the First World War . However , some villages were emptied in the 1960s when fights between the Iraqi government and Kurdish separatists forced most of their inhabitants to flee to Baghdad and Mosul . Some scarcely populated villages were completely destroyed later on during the Anfal genocide in the 1980s as well . The population of the valley grew considerably following the Iraq War , as many Assyrians living in Dora and Mosul started settling back in the region
Anfal genocide
Anfal genocide
Nahla, Iraq