Assyrian militias fighting against Daesh in Iraq, received air support from the US led coalition for the first time ever during their fight against terrorists in Nineveh province.

Sarkon Slivo, speaker of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), told Sputnik that Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU) defeated Daesh terrorists at Khazir River, south-east of Mosul with the help of the international coalition.

“Soldiers of NPU liberated the village of Al-Kabir, which is situated 35 km south-east of Mosul and 12 km south of Bakhdida,” the speaker said.

The source said that General Bikhnam Abbush ordered on Thursday morning to storm the village of Al-Kabir. Assyrians combat units moved from their positions at Khazir River and began to enter the village, by evening, it was liberated from Daesh.

During the offensive, the NPU troops which are a Christian armed group, received air support from the international coalition whose forces attacked the terrorist positions.

This air support was the first given in history of combat operations in Iraq.

At the same time, the NPU repelled an attack by militants in Telskuf village, where the terrorists organized car bomb assaults with the aim of breaking through the NPU’s defense. Nevertheless, the Assyrian troops managed to kill 150 terrorists and keep the village under their control.

Since the spread of Daesh in Iraq, Assyrian troops have not received any military support from any of the anti-terrorist coalitions. The initiative to liberate the north of Iraq was started by the Kurdish Peshmerga troops.

Due to lack of international support, the Assyrian troops were forced to act alone to protect their villages and districts from Daesh militants.

A few months earlier, the NPU commander expressed hope to receive coalition support. The western assistance “will give equality to all the ethnic groups here,” Col. Jawat Habib Abboush, the deputy commander of the group was reported as saying, according to news portal AINA.org.

“This is our country, we had a civilization here for a thousand years and we are still citizens of this country,” he added. “We cannot be marginalized.”

When Daesh spread across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, Assyrian Christians were brutally targeted and thousands of members of the community were displaced from their homes, fleeing to Kurdish-controlled areas.