The Assyrians were prized for their discipline, loyalty, bravery and fighting skills by the British, and were Eastern Aramaic speaking Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox or Chaldean Catholic Christians, a Semitic ethnic and religious minority in a generally Arab/Kurdish Muslim population.[6] In July 1922 Orders were issued in which no more Arabs were to be enlisted as they were required to join the new Iraqi Army, and those serving could not re-engage. A 1922 treaty between Great Britain and Iraq allowed for the continued existence of the Levies as "local forces of the Imperial garrison" and specified that its members were "members of the British Forces who are inhabitants of Iraq".[2]