David is our leader, valiant in the combat,
He is captain over us to lead us forth to war.
Danger shall not daunt us, fear shall flee before us,
Forth we go to battle in the name of Mar Shimun.
Young men of the nation, tribes renowned in story,
Mighty men in battle were our fathers’ kings of old.
Raging through the valleys, storming o’er the mountains,
Forth we go to battle in the name of Mar Shimun.
Nineveh the holy[155] beckons back her children;
Know ye not her ancient walls shall be the victor’s crown?
There alone, Assyrians, shall our race be stablished,
Forth we go to battle in the name of Mar Shimun.
Their valour was soon to be tested for scarcely had they committed themselves, when the Russians withdrew again northward and left them to fight it out alone. A formidable accumulation of enemies was promptly mustered against them, and within five weeks of their decision the Assyrians were battling for their lives. Mira Reshid[156] the tyrant of Berwar, led the confederated Kurds from the westward against Lizan and Lower Tyari and with him marched a strong contingent of regular troops from Mosul with batteries of mountain guns. Chumba and Upper Tyari were attacked by the Artosh Kurds and the regular troops from Julamerk. The Agha of Chal[157] brought his forces against Salabekan and Tkhuma; and Sutu Agha of Oramar assailed Jilu and Baz. The Christians were outnumbered on all sides and were much worse equipped than their enemies; for except for a small supply of rifles and ammunition which they had obtained from the Russians their arms were all sadly obsolete.
And yet the general result of this great combined attack was failure. Qudshanis was pillaged and burned and the Valley of Lizan was occupied. So also were the villages in the Sapna and Berwar valleys; but these were all open and isolated, and had never been regarded as tenable. The attacks on Jilu, Chumba and Salabekan were all three heavily repulsed. Thus, after a week’s hard fighting the[{367}][{368}] Assyrians had lost only the outskirts of their territory on the right (or western) bank of the Zab, and had kept all their key fastnesses (on the eastern side of it) intact. It was only the first round certainly, but the Turks had been foiled for a season; and it was hoped that the Russian operations in Armenia might eventually bring them relief.
