1: ( CNN ) When ISIS overran their villages near Mosul in August 2014 , a small group of Assyrians , a Middle Eastern minority with a history reaching back more than 4,000 years , picked up weapons and formed their own militia : Dwekh Nawsha --  The Sacrificers .  2: Assyrians belong to the rapidly dwindling Christian population of Iraq -- recent estimates from CAPNI , the largest Christian relief organization in northern Iraq put the number as low as 300,000 compared with 1.5 million 20 years ago -- and many among them see the fight with ISIS as a final battle for survival against the Islamists .  3: Assyrians are an ancient Middle Eastern minority -- they are part of the rapidly dwindling Christian population of Iraq .
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