NINEVEH PLAIN, IRAQ: Bethnahrain Patriotic Union condemns turning Nineveh Plain into battlefield

NINEVEH PLAIN, Iraq – In a statement released on Thursday, the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union (HBA) condemns turning the Nineveh Plain by several actors and (proxy-)forces of into a battlefield for political agendas, and source and tool for sabotage and terrorism. HBA called on the Iraqi government to protect the Nineveh Plain and urged the International Community to intervene immediately to protect indigenous components.

The Bethnahrain Patriotic Union statement issued by its Political Bureau comes after the recent rocket attack on the airport of Erbil. Six rockets were most likely fired from the Nineveh Plain between the villages of Sheikh Amir and Rajla near the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plain. It is not known who fired the rockets, but suspicions point to pro-Iranian Popular Mobilizations Forces or Hasd al-Shaabi.

In the statement, the HBA condemns and rejects,

• The threatening of the residents of the Nineveh Plain to create a disturbing security atmosphere by launching rockets from its territory, done by actors to sabotage and terrorize;
• The transferring of the chaotic reality and threatening security situation of the capital, Baghdad, to the Nineveh Plain. This is deliberately done to bring back the drums of war to safe areas and displace again the returned indigenous population – especially after nearly one third of the indigenous population has returned to their towns;
• The threatening of the security of the Nineveh province, making it a troubled area unfit for reconstruction, and making it a source of threat to the Kurdish Region in Iraq and its population as a secure and stable Iraqi region;
• Carrying out internal countering activities against the Iraqi state and government for it to suspend its security programs and force it to refrain from its decision to monopolize weapons with the state.

HBA (native Surith/Surayt: Huyodo Bethnahrin Athroyo) urgently calls on the Iraqi government to protect the Nineveh Plain and keep it away from any strife and fighting, and to create special security for the Nineveh Plain, beginning with the return of displaced people to their liberated areas and to end targeted demographic change.

HBA also called on the United Nations and the International Community to intervene immediately to protect indigenous components, especially the Chaldean-Syriac- Assyrian people who do not have weapons and believe in lasting peace.