Fighters with 'JESUS' Printed on Their Forearms Join Kurdish-Arab Forces in Fight Against ISIS in Raqqa
With "JESUS" tattooed on their forearms, these fighters clearly identify themselves as Christians. And they are on a mission to right what is wrong.
Dozens of Syriac-Assyrian Christians have joined Kurdish and Arab forces in a determined push to get rid of the barbaric Islamic State (ISIS) militants once and for all in Raqqa, Syria, their so-called caliphate's de facto capital.
These Christian fighters are seeking payback for the three years of death and destruction that the ISIS has brought to their community.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"I'm sacrificing for what they did to our people, our sects, for the churches they blew up. For all these things," Aleksan Chmou, a 28-year-old Syriac fighter, told Agence France Presse.
Abboud Seryan, another Christian fighter, said all anti-ISIS people in the region regardless of their faith—Syriacs, Kurds, and Arabs—now regard each other as "brothers."
Meanwhile, Johannes de Jong, one of the Syriac-Assyrian Christians involved in the offensive against ISIS, said the Christian fighters badly need the support and prayers of the international Christian community, according to Premier News Hour.
He urged believers to pray for the Christian fighters to find the strength and resources to defeat the militants.
"Pray that as many as possible will make it through and this fight will not be too long," he said. "Pray that there will be guns and ammunition for Syriac-Assyrian Christians while part of this fight to liberate Raqqa."
De Jong said the road leading to Raqqa is teeming with danger. "The very clear picture they're giving me is that there's a wall around Raqqa, they put it full of mines," he said. "You have to imagine a situation where they have to fight for every street and every house. It will be bad."
He said the problem is made worse by the presence of thousands of civilians being used as human shields by ISIS.
Morever, the ISIS still possesses a vast cache of heavy weapons for use by its defenders in Raqqa, De Jong said.
ISIS is fast losing its grip on Raqqa as the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed up by Kurdish and Christian fighters, are closing in on the city. Last week, coalition officials said they have isolated the ISIS militants in the city, having sealed off their last remaining escape route, according to The Independent.
Raqqa used to be the home of thousands of Syriac Christians as well as Armenians, Kurds and Sunni Arabs. Many of them fled after ISIS captured the city and declared it their "Islamic caliphate."
At least 50 percent of the Christian population in Syria have been displaced as a result of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and the ISIS occupation in 2014, The Christian Post reported last month.
