Nineveh Plain Protection Units

Nineveh Plain Protection Units
Participant in the Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)

Emblem of the NPU.
Active December 2014–Present
Area of operations

Nineveh plains

Northern Iraq
Strength 2500
Part of Assyrian Democratic Movement[1]
Allies

Iraq Iraqi Armed Forces
Iraq Popular Mobilization Forces (Iraq)

Template:Country data Kudistan Peshmerga
Opponents Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

The Nineveh Plain Protection Units or NPU is a military organization that was formed late in 2014, largely but not exclusively by Assyrians in Iraq, to defend against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[2] The Nineveh plains are a region where Assyrians in Iraq have traditionally been concentrated.[3] By December 2014, the group said it had between 500 and 1000 men in training, that the US was helping train them, and that financial support was coming mostly from Assyrians in the US and Europe.[2][3] In February 2015 there were unverified reports that the group had 5,000 Assyrian men registered to be trained, 500 are already training for combat, and 500 volunteers from the group stationed in threatened towns.[1][4]

References

  1. 1 2 Jack Moore for Newsweek. Feb 4, 2015 4000 Strong NPU Assyrian Soldiers
  2. 1 2 John Burger for Aletia. December 4, 2014 Christians in Iraq Forming Militia to Defend, and Possibly Retake, Ancestral Lands
  3. 1 2 Steven Nelson for US News and World Report. Feb. 6, 2015 Iraqi Assyrian Christians Form Anti-ISIS Militia, and You Can Legally Chip In
  4. ↑ Nour Malas for the Wall Street Journal Feb 3, 2015 The Assyrian Christians Take Up Arms To Fight ISIS
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