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American Mesopotamian Organization, Assyrian Christian, Assyrians, Christians, Christians in Mosul, Christians in Syria, Daesh, foreign mercenaries, foreign-backed terrorists, Iraq, Iraqi Christians, ISIL, ISIS, Kurdish, Kurdish fighters, Kurds, Mesopotamia, Mosul, Nineveh Plains Protection Units, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Syrian Christians, Syrian Resistance, War Against Terrorism, War by Proxy, War Criminals, War on Syria, War Strategy, Yazidi Kurds, Yazidis
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Thousands of Iraqi Christians have established their own military group and are training to fight ISIL in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq, The Arab Source reported.
Iraq expert Sajad Jiyad: “The Assyrians want their land back and they – as well as the Turkmen and the Yazidis – are sending a message that: ‘We are going to come back and we are not going to leave our villages and towns and our cultures to be destroyed. We want to come back to our homes and, no matter what we face, we’re willing to fight and take that back.’ I think that is a positive message for the entire nation.”
Last year, ISIL captured Iraq’s largest Christian town, Qaraqosh, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee. The towns of Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh were also seized by the ‘jihadists’. It is estimated that over 100,000 Christians have been displaced in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq because of the ISIL advance.
John Michael, a British-Assyrian in Iraq, told the Catholic Herald: “This is our last stand, if this fails then Christianity will be finished in Iraq”.
Before 2003, the number of Christians in Mosul was approximately 60,000 before the US army invaded Iraq in 2003 when the town’s Christian population has started to decrease rapidly.