Video: Iraqi TV Host Breaks Down Crying On-Air Over What ISIS Has Done to His Country's Christians

An Iraqi television host started crying on-air over what ISIS has done to his country's Christians, according to a video and translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

"They are our own flesh and blood," Nahi Mahdi said on Asia TV in late July, covering his face as he wept. "Some of them have left for Sweden or Germany .... Who does [ISIS] think it is to drive out our fellow countrymen?!"

Iraqi television host Nahi Mahdi cries on Asia TV on July 20, 2014. (Image via MEMRI-TV)

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians have been forced to flee as ISIS, a militant Islamist group, grows more powerful. In July, the group gave Christians an ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay a tax, abandon everything and leave, or die.

"Our country is like a rose, and its petals are the Christians, the Arabs, the Kurds, the Sabians, the Shabak people," Mahdi continued. "These are all our countrymen."

Iraqi television host Nahi Mahdi cries on Asia TV July 20, 2014. (Image via MEMRI-TV)

Another panelist agreed, adding: "The Christians have done nothing wrong. They haven't hurt a soul. On the contrary, they are peaceful people, who love all sects. They are honorable people, with high moral values."

"We stand one hundred percent in solidarity with them," he concluded.