Ashitha (Syriac: ܥܫܝܬܐ) was the largest Assyrian village in the mountainous region of Tyari on the current border between Iraq and Turkey. The town derives its name from the Syriac word ܥܵܫܝܼܬܵܐ meaning avalanche.
History
The village laid on the entrance to bohtan valley. It emerged largely unscathed during the massacres of Badr Khan in the 1840s.
The town was destroyed during the Assyrian Genocide in 1915. A later attempt to rebuild it was unsuccessful and its last Assyrian inhabitants were deported by the Turks to Iraq in 1924. The original inhabitants of Ashitha moved to Baghdad and other Iraqi towns such as Sarsink, Sharafiya, Barwar, Araden, and various villages throughout the Nineveh Plains. A large number presently reside in the United States and Europe.