Damascus/Hanover, Germany  - A group of 144 Iraqi refugees who took shelter in Syria are on their way to Germany Tuesday with the assistance of international organizations designed to help migrants.

This will be the eighth trip organized by the International Organization for Migration to take Iraqi refugees from Damascus to Hanover, in north central Germany.

The program has already brought 1,003 Iraqi refugees to Germany after they were classified as needing special protection by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the German federal migration office.

The refugees will initially receive permits to stay in Germany for three years.

Most had previously fled the violence in Iraq for Syria. Others had initially fled to Jordan, where they were unable to obtain long- term residency permits. Many are Christians who say they feel threatened by Islamist terrorist organizations in Iraq.

The European Union decided in September 2008 to take in 10,000 Iraqi refugees. Germany obligated itself to take 2,500 of those. The first arrived in March. (dpa)