The Restore Nineveh Now Foundation’s Weekly Report – December, 2016 – Issue 3
In an effort to keep you informed and engaged concerning events on the Nineveh Plain and in the Middle East, the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation brings you a weekly news dispatch, The Weekly Report. Drawn from our blog posts and major stories, The Weekly Report will focus on issues related to the restoration of the Nineveh Plain and the larger issues of peace and stability in the Middle East.
If there is an issue that you would like to know more about, be sure to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as we are able. You can subscribe to the Weekly Report by signing up for the newsletter on the Retsore Nineveh Now Foundation home page.
(Above: Elias Nasir and Dawod Jendo (R.I.P.), Khabur Assyrian Council of Guardians. Photo credit, The Rise of Gilgamesh.)
Happening This Week:
As we pass the halfway mark in December, it’s (finally) starting to feel like Christmas. At this time many of us think more about our blessings and the things that we are thankful for. This week, have we got a story about someone who, thanks to you, is very blessed and thankful.
Elias Nasir, one of the military commanders for the Khabour Assyrian Council of Guardians, has been very blessed and has much to be thankful for this December.
Back in April of 2015 Elias Nasir and Dawod Jendo, both commanders in the Khabur Assyrian Council of Guardians in the Khabur Valley, Syria, were asked to come to a secret meeting with a group of local Kurdish leaders from the YPG. Unknown to both men the meeting was a trap, and they were ambushed.
Both men were badly beaten, and after hours of torture, taken out and shot, execution style in the back of the head.
Dawod was killed instantly but Elias, by God’s grace, was shot through the neck, and fell forward, pretending to be dead. After being shot again in the back by the Kurdish YPG, Elias was assumed dead and left, along with Dawod’s lifeless body, near the Euphrates damn in north central Syria.
Once he was sure that his would-be killers had left, Elias dragged his badly wounded body nearly one half mile to a nearby road where he was found and taken to hospital.
That was over a year and half ago. Today, in December 2016, Elias is out of Syria, in hospital awaiting the next in a series of surgeries to rebuild his face and jaw.
Throughout this year and half Restore Nineveh Now Foundation has been helping to pay for Elias’ care and reconstructive surgeries.
This week we are please to bring you a letter from Elias, written from his hospital bed, in which he thanks all of us for the continuing support:
To all my fellow Assyrian brothers and sisters,
You are all aware of the harsh conditions our beloved Khabur has endured; The invasion of our villages by the dark hordes that and the resulting mass exodus of our Assyrian people from their homes. In response to this, our Assyrian nation in the diaspora stepped up and provided financial assistance to help minimize this human tragedy and to help maintain our presence in the homeland (Northern Iraq and Khabur).
I must tell you that there are individuals and organizations, including myself, that are continuously working on this goal. One such organization is the Restore Nineveh Foundation which coordinates its efforts with the Assyrian Democratic Party (the political leadership of all of our institutions currently functioning in Khabur), myself and the foreign relations officer for the Khabur Assyrian Council of Guardians. I would also like to state that all funds sent to date by the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation have been accounted for and received, including most recently the funds sent to purchase two vehicles that are needed to help secure our villages in Khabur.
The Restore Nineveh Now Foundation has also helped me personally. They have provided me with financial assistance I needed to cover most of the medical expenses for my jaw replacement surgery, scheduled to be performed in the near future.
Elias Nasir
In this season of blessings and thanks, we doubt that we can add anything to Elias’ words except to say “thank you” to all who support us. Your support gives us all a reason for hope.
In The News:
A clash of cultures?
This map from The Express show over 2,000 sexual assaults and rapes committed in Germany by immigrants from mainly Islamic countries.
A flash of freedom
The Washington Post – Saudi woman tweets photo of herself without hijab and is arrested.
A bloody Christmas from ISIS
ISIS’s present to the NIneveh Plain? Wave after wave of suicide bombers.
A prayer for peace
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops prays for peace in Iraq.
The Weekly Report is produced by the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation (RNNF), a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. All donations to the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation are tax deductible. To support the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation, click here. If you would like to know more about the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation, please contact us and we will get right back to you.
Thank you –
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