The Christian fighters in Iraq—who speak the same Aramaic language of Jesus Christ—said they are trying their best to defend their ancient homeland against the occupation army of Islamic State (ISIS) militants but are being hampered by "lobbyists in Washington D.C."
Dwekh Nawsha, the Christian militia force that has been fighting ISIS in Iraq's Assyrian Nineveh plains, said as much as they want to continue fighting the brutal ISIS occupation forces, they could not do anything much because they are running out of weapons and ammunition, according to a WND report.
"All we're saying is we're done. We don't have equipment. We don't have the weapons. We don't have the training," said Assyrian-American Lt. Col. Sargis Sangari, the group's American advisor who served 20 years in the U.S. Army.
Sangari told online news source Breitbart that ironically the people who are tying their hands are the influential people in the Obama administration.
" One of the biggest obstacles we run into are the lobbyist groups in Washington, D.C. who are being funded to no end to try to preach in favour of other ethnicities in the region who cannot even manage and administer their own areas," he said. "Because of that the Assyrians have not been able to get the support they need."
Sangari was particularly critical of the U.S. policy of training and arming Syrian rebels. "As much as you're giving money to all these individuals who are killing each other, why don't you try to give it to the Assyrians?" he said.
U.S. money, training, and equipment would allow the Assyrian Army to engage the ISIS forces, said Sangari.
"Anybody who fights just for money will be a failure, but when you give money to individuals who are fighting for their homeland, they'll be successful," he pointed out.
Sangari said the Assyrian Army is among the most effective groups fighting ISIS. The group started with just 12 fighters last summer but managed to protect Christians from the advancing ISIS forces despite their lack of resources, Breitbart reported.
A young Dwekh Nawsha fighter named Marcus said they will continue fighting despite the lack of support from America.
"After 15 years, you'll come back here and you won't find any Christians," he told Yahoo News.
One day "our children... will ask us: 'Why did you give up? Why didn't you fight?' So we will tell them: 'We fought,'" Marcus said.
Assyrian Christians have formed at least four armed groups, according to Yahoo News, with three fighting in the area north of Mosul.
The group was formed last August when ISIS overran large sections of Iraq and Syria and demanded that Christians either pay the exorbitant jizya tax, convert to Islam, or be put to "death by the sword."
