The Chaldean diocese of Gazarta , named for the town of Jezira (modern Cizre), known in Syriac as Gazarta d'Beth Zabdai, was established on a stable basis in the early nineteenth century. Many of the Chaldeans of the Gazarta region, including the bishop of Gazarta Philip Yaʿqob Abraham, were killed during the Armenian massacres in 1915, and the diocese lapsed after the First World War.