WATCH: video in Kurdish
MAKHMOUR FRONT – For the Peshmerga soldiers who have been defending the borders of the Kurdistan Region for more than two years against the Islamic State (ISIS), Monday’s Eid feast began with morning prayers together.
For these soldiers on the Makhmour Front close to the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, the Muslim feast of sacrifice is especially poignant: while it is customary for Muslims to sacrifice an animal to feed the poor, for the Peshmerga every day is a day of sacrifice, as they spend yet another celebration away from their families.
One Peshmerga officer said he had not called his family yet to congratulate them because, for him, “my Peshmerga comrades are my priority.”
“We would rather be here than at home,” another Peshemrga said. He said his presence at the frontline makes him feel like he is “the son of all the people of (Kurdistan).” If he were home, he said, he would belong only to his own family.
Tahsin Xelani, an Erbil resident, did not forget the sacrifice of the Peshmerga on this day: he brought in an Islamic preacher and butcher to the frontlines to offer his sacrifice and celebrate together with the soldiers.
“We should stop sitting at home and watching the war on television,” he said, encouraging people to show their support to “the defenders of the pride and honor of Kurdistan.”
In his Eid message on Sunday, Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani praised the Peshmerga for “defending the dignity of their land and nation.”
“I congratulate the brave Peshmerga who are defending the dignity of their land and nation on the frontlines,” Barzani said in his video message. “I also congratulate security forces who have tirelessly been on duty to protect the security of people very well,” the Kurdish president added.
He also praised the families of fallen Peshmerga soldiers as martyrs and “loved ones who, with their blood, defended the prestige and freedom of our country.”
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a congratulatory Eid message on Sunday that, “This feast comes at a time when the Kurdistan Region is in fierce fighting with the most brutal enemy of life and freedom. The courageous Peshmerga soldiers are dedicating their lives and blood to defend their Kurdistan and that fight has led to a miserable economic situation for the people, civil servants and the government of Kurdistan.”
By last June, nearly 1,500 Peshmerga had been killed and some 9,000 wounded in the war with ISIS, according to KRG numbers released at the time.
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