Iraq and Syria<\/p>\n Dear friends, <\/span><\/p>\n Recently I was inspired by the stories of two Syrian Christians when they shared how Jesus changed their lives, even in the midst of very difficult situations. I was inspired to share those stories with you, as well as some other stories of Jesus’s saving work – both soul and body – that we’ve seen here in the Middle East. Some names have been changed for security purposes.<\/span><\/p>\n Thank you and God bless you,<\/span><\/p>\n Dave<\/span><\/p>\n Iraq Introduction:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It was May 2017 and the Battle of Mosul was in its 7th month. ISIS was being slowly pushed into its last corner, and lashing out viciously as they became more desperate. The headlines showed victory in sight, but each person on the ground, soldiers and civilians alike, knew it was a victory they might not live to see. The Iraqi forces, doing their best to preserve the lives of civilians, were fighting house-to-house and street-by-street and losing men daily, even as they liberated hiding and terrified families along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n Amir’s Story<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Amir was one of these soldiers on the ground, leading his men from one house to the next. Our team followed, providing medical support for the soldiers and civilians. On this day there was a lull in the fighting and Amir and I had been sitting on a curb near a blown-up car for just a few minutes when three ISIS fighters exploded around the corner, just seven meters away, shooting and shouting. Lt. Amir was immediately shot six times while I was hit in the arm. We were able to push ISIS back, drag him off the street, stop the bleeding and evacuate him. He had sustained three wounds to the chest, two to his left arm and one in the left leg.<\/span><\/p>\n He survived, and one doctor told him, \u201cI have never seen anyone survive wounds like this, only God could have helped you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Later, he found out his first daughter was born as he was on the operating table. He now has a son also and is continuing to recover from his wounds. We were able to see him in February of 2018 in a joyful reunion. At that time he said, \u201cGod had his hand on me that day. He saved me to do something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Before he was wounded, and afterwards, we had talked together about Jesus and I encouraged him to pray to Jesus for anything. We also gave him a Bible in Arabic. Last month he sent me an email saying, \u201cDear father, thank you for introducing me to the religion of Christ. I am reading the Bible now.\u201d We met again on our latest mission to Iraq and he told us, \u201cNow Jesus is in my heart. I am happy. I try to follow Him. I have to be careful because if people in my area find out, they will kill me. But I will keep following Jesus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Amir is the second Iraqi soldier I know from the battle of Mosul who came to Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n Ali’s Story<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ali was our Iraqi Army Humvee driver, a 30-year-old soft-spoken career soldier who had joined the army when he was 18. His wife was a widow, her first husband killed by al-Qaeda, along with her father. He had known a life of war and when we met, the first thing he said to me was, \u201cPlease. I want to go to America.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We worked alongside him and his unit from December 2016, as the fighting moved first through the east side of Mosul then around and to the west side and finally into the old city. In February of 2017, the army was fighting through the desert south of the city, and Ali decided to give his life to Jesus. He said, \u201cYour [team\u2019s] love for others, your mercy and your help made me love Christianity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The most vicious fighting was yet to begin. On May 4th, we were with the Iraqi Army as they began to push into the densely packed central part of the city, helping evacuate and treat civilians fleeing through the no-man\u2019s-land between ISIS and the Iraqis. As families ran for their lives, ISIS snipers picked them off – men, women and children alike. A father and daughter were hit, and went down in the road; our Humvee, driven by Ali, went to get them. As we loaded the wounded two, our vehicle was critically hit and incapacitated.<\/span><\/p>\n I called on the radio for help but ISIS was launching a counter-attack and I got no immediate response. Ali said, \u201cI will go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I said, \u201cNo, wait, you\u2019ll get killed.\u201d As I radioed again for help, his door opened; I lunged across the Humvee yelling at him to stop but his jacket slipped through my fingers as he bolted out and sprinted up the road through ISIS fire to get help. Minutes later he was back with another Humvee.<\/span><\/p>\n Shaheen, our translator, was in the back seat with Slowly, one of our medics, and they both jumped out to begin the evacuation of our two desperately wounded patients. Immediately, they were both hit \u2013 Slowly was hit in his equipment and immediately jumped back into the cover of the vehicle, uninjured, while Shaheen was hit in the stomach and went down. Ali saw his friend fall and ran to him, again through ISIS fire, carried him back the Humvee and evacuated him. This time, Ali was hit \u2013 six times. With one hand on his neck to stop the flow of blood from one wound there, he drove back to where our ambulance was and both he and Shaheen were evacuated \u2013 first to a local clinic and later to Baghdad.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Baran](\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_8170.jpg\")
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