On 6 August Patriarch Louis Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic church, called on Iraqi Christians to unite under one banner and work past their various political affiliations and differing doctrines. In his statement, issued after two armed Christian factions clashed in the Nineveh plains, he said that Christian political parties and armed factions are ‘responsible to a great extent for the suffering and disorder in which Christians live.’ He added, ‘We believe that a huge part of this ordeal is self-inflicted and caused by parties' divisions, their subordination (to Shi’ite and Kurdish groups), and their failure to unite efforts and ranks and make a unified decision.’ Internal Christian divisions have existed for a long time, but they deepened when a number of armed Christian factions formed after IS took over Christian territories in the Nineveh plains.