Peshmerga Forces Recruit Christian Fighters, says Local Official

RUDAW ^ | 1 hour ago | RUDAW

[GonzoII]

Men between the ages of 18-30 can now sign up for training with the Peshmerga forces, according to local officials.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces have opened doors to the region’s Christian population and recruit them to join the fight against the Islamic State (IS), an official told Rudaw.

“Representatives of the ministry of Peshmerga visited Ainkawa to recruit Christians,” said Jalal Habib Aziz, the mayor of Ainkawa, a predominately Christian neighborhood in Erbil.

According to Aziz, the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry has answered a call by Christian leaders to recruit members of the community to “protect themselves and their areas.”

“We ask the young people of the Chaldean and Assyrian [communities] to register themselves to serve in the ranks of the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan,” Aziz.

Men between the ages of 18-30 can now sign up for training with the Peshmerga forces, according to local officials.

Ainkawa is home to hundreds of thousands of Christian refugees who fled Mosul and the Nineveh plains in June and August when Islamist militants captured their cities.

On other occasions, Christian leaders had asked the Kurdish authorities to arm their youth to defend Christian towns across the major frontlines between the Peshmerga and IS forces.

Similar units have already been created among the Kurdish Yezidi community whose young fighters are now battling the IS militants on Mount Shingal and its surrounding villages.

 

[Mount Athos]

“Those Christians booing Israel and Cruz were doing from the safety of this country, so spare me the bullshit.”

You were specifically talking about the Christians being genocided right now. So the bullshit is all yours.

“It looks like you are not denying anti-Israeli sentiments among Christian Arabs... Let me tell you this: the hell with Syria. Bomb away!”

And the hell with Christian Arabs too right?
So you’re the cheering section for ISIS while they slaughter Christians in the middle east.

Growing up, I always wondered how people could do nothing about the slaughter of Jews in WWII, or even support it.

Your message here has helped me to understand.

[sagar]

You constantly invoke Jews and Holocaust, while supporting the anti-semites. Are you sure you are not projecting?

Just answer this: do you support Hezbollah?

[Zionist Conspirator]

“Peshmerga” sounds vaguely Yiddish, doesn’t it? Sort of like “meshuggena” or “fershlugginer.”

[Mount Athos]

It is highly relevant to invoke jews and the holocaust in this topic.

Christians are being genocided en masse in the middle east right now.
For real.
Do you realize how real it is?
It’s every bit as real as the holocaust against jews in WWII. N
o really, it’s happening right now and the world is slow and hesitant to act just like back then.
So an entire people are being pushed and wiped out, and the question on your mind is whether they support israel or not. Yeah, you’re really rising to the challenge of the times.

To answer your question, I don’t support hezbollah.
Where is your head at? The wrong place.

[EricT.]

The utter ignorance some people on FR have about the Kurds is amazing.

[EricT.]

When I went to Iraq, my passport received a “Kurdistan Regional Government” stamp.

They already have a mostly autonomous government.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah the Christians have been living peacefully with the Kurds for a long time.

[Jacob Kell]

I believe those Christians are mainly ethnic Assyrians, NOT Arabs.

[sagar]

Let me get this straight — Arab Christians start booing when hearing about Israel’s existential threat. Yet, if you are any example of their thinking, then they are constantly viewing themselves as Jews from the Holocaust. Does not compute.

[Mount Athos]

The topic at hand is Christians in the middle east who are being genocided and wiped out for real.

You shouldn’t mock them or try to minimize the situation.

[sagar]

I only mock their so-called supporters here that are living in the US and hate on Israel at any given opportunity... meanwhile supporting Hezbollah and the Syrian genocidal dictator . Oh, but he is a Shite Alawite Arab, so he is a-okay.

[Mount Athos]

Maybe you shouldn’t smear everyone in the USA who is against genociding the Christians in the middle east.

[HippyLoggerBiker]

Thanks for the clarification.

I just see an ominous cloud whenever I see “Kurdistan” with some kind of a capable army, “Semi autonomous Region”, Southern Turkey, Northern Iraq, and certain very important parts of Syria all combined with total chaos in the region.

The (mostly) Autonomous-Iraq part has been there for a while (wasn’t Saddam using nerve gasses on those nasty Kurds...oh, sorry, I forgot, he didn’t have any WMD’s). The Kurds seem to be an island of stability there.

Syria is a total mess, not sure how Bashir feels about Peshmergas fighting his enemies.

Turkey, however..., THAT is another story.

I’ll get the pop-corn and beers...

Wish you well
HLB

[xone]

Saladin was a Kurd. His history is romanticized but he was every bit as ruthless and Islamist in the Levant as Moslem Brotherhood would be and ISIS is.

When Saladin captured Jerusalem, he gave Christians 30 days to leave. Contrast that with Crusader victories.

[ek_hornbeck]

Will these same Christians boo Israel? May be not now, but when their lives return to normal.

Shouldn't their attitude towards the United States be more decisive in our decision to back them than their attitude towards Israel? Since when was unconditional support for Israel made the litmus test for our foreign policy? During the Cold War, the US made alliances with many nations that either didn't care about or were hostile towards Israel, because the rational criteria at the time were A. were they US allies and B. were they anti-Soviet. Turning our backs on anti-ISIS/anti-Al Quaeda fighters, particularly Christian ones, because they don't love Israel is insanity.