Joe Snell
Assyrian American journalist based in Washington. www.joesnellreports.com
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Tied to their land: Tedeh and Neneh
Tedeh and Neneh, an Assyrian couple in northern Iraq, are committed to remaining in the Nahla Valley, an area their people have lived in for thousands of years, despite many of their neighbors and their own children leaving in recent years amid pressures by US-led military campaigns, the rise of extremism, bombings by Turkey and local pressures to seize these indigenous areas.
I traveled to the Nahla Valley of Iraq in 2019 and spoke with some of the last remaining Assyrians in these isolated villages. Assyrians have lived in these areas for thousands of years, but only in the last 20 years have they begun leaving in large numbers, pressured by fighting between Iraqi and US-led coalition forces in 2003, the rise of the Islamic State, bombings by Turkey, and local political pressures to seize the land. This couple, Tedeh and Neneh, saw their children leave to Australia and Canada but refused to leave themselves, saying they are bound to this land as it's always been a part of their identity.
Weathered but withstanding: The Jerwan Aqueducts
The Jerwan Aqueducts are located in northern Iraq and were built by Assyrian King Sennacherib around 700BC. Today, however, the historical site is left unattended, decaying in the sun, surrounded by trash and its ancient stones broken to pieces.
The Jerwan Aqueducts were built by Assyrian King Sennacherib around 700BC and are located in the modern day Nineveh Province of Iraq. They once consisted of over two million large stones. Some believe the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were actually Sennacherib's gardens in Nineveh. Today, however, the aqueducts are left uncovered and decaying in the sun. On my 2022 trip to Iraq, I was led to these stones in an open agricultural field, a pack of dogs living amongst them and trash strewn everywhere, many stones broken into pieces and discarded in piles around the site.