sentences:  When the 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent, Timur (Tamerlane), conquered Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria, the civilian population was decimated.Timur had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in Tikrit, and 90,000 more in Baghdad.In the 16th century, the Ottomans reinforced their eastern frontier with what they considered loyal Sunni Kurd tribes.