Syriac Military Council fighter Jirjis Daoud: I have learned from my fallen comrades the meaning of sacrifice for the sake of our homeland

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA – A few years ago, member of the Syriac Military Council Jirjis Daoud left his native land in the Gozarto (Jazira) Region in search of better job opportunities. After spending several months in Erbil, Iraq, he felt compelled to return to his home city because of the invasion of the Turkish occupation army and its affiliated Syrian National Army mercenaries, and the eviction of his family and Syriac people.

After his return, Jirjis Daoud joined the Syriac Military Council (Mawtbo Fulḥoyo Suryoyo, MFS) and participated in many liberation campaigns, including those to liberate Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn), Khabur, Tal Hamis, al-Shadada, al-Hol, Tabqa and Baghuz.

In comments to our news desk, MFS fighter Daoud describes the most difficult times he lives through are those when he visits the shrines of his fallen comrades;

“It is especially difficult for me when I go to the shrine of our martyrs to visit and commemorate our fallen comrades. At the same time, however, I learn from them the meaning of sacrifice for the sake of our homeland, and the honorable meaning of sacrificing oneself so that family and the people can enjoy freedom,” he said.

Related: Three members of Syriac Military Council illegally tried and imprisoned in Turkey, given life sentences for “disrupting unity of Turkish state”

A particularly dire and threatening situation arose during the return of Jirjis Daoud and a group of his MFS comrades to the city of al-Sour en route to al-Busira. Daoud explains how they were subjected to an armed attack by an Islamic State-affiliated group in the village of Barshim. He was wounded by three bullets, two in his left hand and a third in his neck. After the violent clash with the terrorist group, Daoud and his companions managed to defeat the terrorists. He was taken to a field hospital to receive first aid, then transferred to Martyr Saria Military Hospital.

The Syriac Military Council is co-founder of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the majority-Arab and Kurdish-led defense forces of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The Syriac Military Council is mobilized in the traditional Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) Khabur region. The resistance of the MFS and its military ability to liberate Syriac villages from Islamic State control in 2015, as well as its continued resistance to the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries since 2019 until today, show the strength and will of the Syriac people in Khabur.

Attempts to make the Khabur Region an own canton for the Syriac (Chaldean-Assyrian-Aramean) ) people have so far remained unsuccessful.