Iranian Assyrians rally in protest at ISIL crimes

The Iranian Assyrians have held a demonstration in the capital city of Tehran to protest against the atrocious crimes perpetrated by the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.

On Thursday, hundreds of Iranian Assyrians gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in Tehran to condemn the heinous killings of civilians, especially Assyrians, in the ISIL-held areas of Iraq and Syria, urging the international community to take action against the ongoing “genocide” in the two Arab countries.

The protesters also deplored the destruction of the ancient sites belonging to the Assyrian civilization in Iraq at the hands of ISIL extremists.

“What has happened to the Assyrians [in Iraq and Syria] over the past year is unparalleled in history,” said the statement which was read aloud by Yonathan Betkolia, the representative of Assyrians at Iran’s Parliament (Majlis).

The ISIL’s ideology is in line with the oppressors who consider as legitimate the atrocities against Shia Muslims and Palestinians in other parts of the world, the statement added.

The demonstrators also called for “an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in coordination with international human rights organizations and the European Parliament,” stressing that the world body must mobilize all forces to secure the release of the Assyrians from ISIL captivity.

ISIL systematically targeting minorities

On February 27, a new report said the ISIL group is systematically targeting religious and ethnic minorities in northern Iraq, adding, “While minorities have long been vulnerable to attacks by extremists, this violence appears to be part of a systematic strategy to remove these communities permanently from areas where they have lived for centuries.”

The report came shortly after the ISIL terrorists kidnapped 220 Assyrians in the northeastern Iraqi province of Hasakah.

ISIL’s cultural genocide

Earlier in March, the ISIL militants bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in the northern part of Iraq.

Also on February 26, the terrorist group released a video showing its militants using sledgehammers and drills to smash ancient statues at the Ninawa museum in Mosul, which put on display Assyrian artifacts dating back to the 9th century B.C.

The Takfiri terrorists have already razed to the ground a number of mosques in Syria and Iraq, many of them dating back to the early years of the Islamic civilization. The terrorists have also destroyed tombs belonging to revered Shia and Sunni figures.

The ISIL group, with members from several Western countries, controls swathes of land in Syria and Iraq, and has been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

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