"Nine-One" 2016 - more than only a military victory for NPU (Ninive Protection Units)

On first of September 2016 the NPU (Ninive Protection Units) performed their first mayor totally self-conducted operation in the fight against ISIS in North Iraq and successfully liberated the village of Badanah. It was the first time ever that NPU, which is an assyrian christian unit incorporated into the armed forces of Iraq, launched an attack backed by air support of the US led coalition.

After the successful operation, media around the globe reported about this operation - in several countries and languages, And this was the even more importand victory than the success in the battlefield!

Why?

It´s quite simple: Because this success broke down the walls of silence that were built up around the NPU during the past months, mostly by the kurdish Peshmerga forces and the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) in Erbil. As you may know, the Peshmerga forces are controling the autonomous region of Kurdistan and also those parts of the Nineva province, that are not occupied by by the terrorists of ISIS.

So, as General Aboosh Behnam, the commander of the NPU, stated personally to me in several interviews and talks, visitors and journalists never got permission to visit NPU forces in the frontline areas. Neither at Tel Esqof, where NPU is (next to to Peshmerga and other forces that are under command of Peshmerga) present with about 100 fighters, nor at the Khazer river, where NPU is present with another about 100 men (these men performed the attack of September 1st).

Even journalists being at Tel Esqof for a visit and knowing that NPU is also there (just around the corner of the local Peshmerga Headquarters) did not get permission to visit NPU.

Yes, you may think that this is crazy, but it is just the plain truth. One of the main reasons surely is the fact, that NPU´s first aim is their independence. Why?

Some months before ISIS attacked and conquered the Nineva-plains in 2014, the people of the Assyrian/Aramean monority (as well as the Yazidi and the members of other minorities) were told to hand out their weapons to the kurdish authorities and the Peshmerga claimed to protect them. But when ISIS came, neither Peshmerga, nor the Iraqi Army took efforts to protect them and stop ISIS. So hundreds of thousands only had the chance to save their life by running away leaving everything behind.

It was a bitter experience, and many Assyrians/Arameans lost any trust into the promised protection. So they thought about what they can do to avoid finding themselves helpless once again one day. It was a long way from there to September 1st of 2016, but that´s another story...

Fact is, that from now on, the world knows about the existence of the brave assyrian/aramean fighters of NPU that are actively and successful engaged in liberating the Nineva plains. So hopfully the blockade of journalists will end soon and it will be possible to visit NPU forces in Tel Esqof and in Khazer.