Destruction of cultural and religious heritage Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

temple of bel in palmyra, destroyed isil in august 2015

unesco s director-general irina bokova has warned isil destroying iraq s cultural heritage, in has called cultural cleansing . don t have time lose because extremists trying erase identity, because know if there no identity, there no memory, there no history , said. referring ancient cultures of christians, yazidis , other minorities, said, way destroy identity. deprive them of culture, deprive them of history, heritage, , why goes hand in hand genocide. along physical persecution want eliminate – delete – memory of these different cultures ... think appalling, , not acceptable. saad eskander, head of iraq s national archives said, first time have cultural cleansing... yazidis, religion oral, nothing written. destroying places of worship... killing cultural memory. same christians – threat beyond belief.

to finance activities, isil stealing artefacts syria , iraq , sending them europe sold. unesco has asked united nations security council controls on sale of antiquities, similar imposed after 2003 iraq war. unesco working interpol, national customs authorities, museums, , major auction houses in attempts prevent looted items being sold. isil occupied mosul museum, second important museum in iraq, reopen after years of rebuilding following iraq war, saying statues against islam , threatening destroy museum s contents.

isil considers worshipping @ graves tantamount idolatry, , seeks purify community of unbelievers. has used bulldozers crush buildings , archaeological sites. bernard haykel has described al-baghdadi s creed kind of untamed wahhabism , saying, al qaeda, violence means ends; isis, end in . destruction isil in july 2014 of tomb , shrine of prophet yunus – jonah in christianity – 13th-century mosque of imam yahya abu al-qassimin, 14th-century shrine of prophet jerjis – st george christians – , attempted destruction of hadba minaret @ 12th-century great mosque of al-nuri have been described unchecked outburst of extreme wahhabism . there explosions destroyed buildings dating assyrian era , said national museum of iraq director qais rashid, referring destruction of shrine of yunus. cited case daesh (isil) gathered on 1,500 manuscripts convents , other holy places , burnt of them in middle of city square . in march 2015, isil reportedly bulldozed 13th-century bc assyrian city of nimrud, believing sculptures idolatrous. unesco head, irina bokova, deemed war crime.

isil has burned or stolen collections of books , papers various locations including central library of mosul (which rigged explosives , burned down), library @ university of mosul, sunni muslim library, 265-year-old latin church , monastery of dominican fathers, , mosul museum library. destroyed or stolen works date 5000 bce , include iraq newspapers dating 20th century, maps , books ottoman empire, , book collections contributed 100 of mosul s establishment families. stated goal destroy non-islamic books.