The unbelievable damage Islamic State has done to ancient sites

in Iraq and Syria

Iraqis inspect the wreckage of the grave of the Nebi Yunus, or the prophet
Jonah, in Mosul, Iraq, on July 24, 2014. (European Pressphoto Agency)
As the Islamic State continues its efforts to create a "caliphate," killing
thousands in its path, the group is also pursuing another campaign: the
destruction of historic sites.
The militant group has destroyed numerous sites that have high historic
and cultural value. And the destruction is never a coincidence -- as my
colleague Ishaan Tharoor writes:
The militants espouse a radical, puritanical strain of Sunni Islam whereby
all shrines or holy sites that honor beings lesser than their God are
considered apostate.
But as The Post's Loveday Morris reports, the extremists aren't only
attacking the sites. They also "have been quietly selling off smaller
antiquities from Iraq and Syria, earning millions of dollars in an
increasingly organized pillaging of national treasures."
The jihadists' hatred and destruction of ancient artifacts, shrines, statues,
even mosques, often recorded and then distributed on social media, have
caused global outrage. Here is a look at some of the sites that were
destroyed.
Temple of Bel
When the Islamic State took control of Palmyra in May, many feared this
would signal the destruction of an archaeological treasure thousands of
years old.
On Monday, satellite images released by the U.N. confirmed the
destruction of the Roman-era Temple of Bel, known as the city's most
famous structure.

According to Liz Sly, "the 1st-century Temple of Bel lay at the heart of the
complex of ruins that had made Palmyra one of Syrias most significant
archaeological and tourist attractions," making it a UNESCO world heritage
site.
Tomb of Jonah
Islamic State destroys 'Tomb of Jonah' shrine in Mosul
Militants from the Islamic State, formally known as ISIS, destroyed the
Shrine of Yunus Mosque in Mosul, Iraq, on Thursday. This comes on the
same day the Iraqi people elected a new president. (YouTube/unknown)

Weeks after the militants seized Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq
and one with a rich cultural heritage it's a holy site for both Christians
and Muslims was ruined.
The destruction of the tomb of the prophet Jonah was one of the first
major atrocities against a historic site carried out by the Islamic State, and
it "brought a new level of resentment," wrote Morris, one that the lack of
electricity and water had not yet caused in the month after the Islamic
State seized control of the city.
Nimrud
Video shows Islamic State destroying ancient ruins of Nimrud
Social media website video purports to show Islamic State militants
destroying the ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq. (Reuters)
In what the United Nations' cultural agency deemed a "war crime," the
Islamic State used heavy military vehicles to bulldoze the 3,000-year-old
Nimrud archeological site, crushing relics from one of ancient
Mesopotamias greatest cities.
The famous landmark, discovered in the last century, was known for its
"pre-Islamic cultural heritage." According to a Post story from March, when
footage was released of the destruction:
The second capital of the ancient kingdom of Assyria, Nimrud was built
about 1250 B.C. and destroyed in 612 B.C. At its height, it was the center
of one of the most powerful states at the time, reaching through modernday Egypt, Turkey and Iran.
Hatra
In this image made from a militant video posted on YouTube on April 3, a
militant hammers away at a face on a wall in Hatra, a large fortified city
recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Militant video via AP)
Militants used weapons to attack Hatra, an ancient fortress city in northern
Iraq.
Video released by the Islamic State shows the militants pulverizing
carvings, statues and walls, using guns, sledgehammers and pickaxes. In
the footage, one fighter says: "Praise to God, who enabled us and the
soldiers of Islamic State to remove the signs of polytheism."
"Until its ravaging at the hands of the extremists," Tharoor wrote, "Hatra
was a remarkably well-preserved ancient site. It first rose to prominence in
the 3rd century, probably as a garrison town for the Seleucid Empire, one
of the quasi-Greek kingdoms that emerged after the death of Alexander
the Great and the splintering of his short-lived empire in Asia."
Mosul museum
In this image made from video posted on a social media account affiliated
with the Islamic State group on Feb. 26, militants attack ancient artifacts

with sledgehammers in the Nineveh Museum in Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo via
militant social media account)
In February, the Islamic State went to the Nineveh Museum in Mosul and
used sledgehammers to smash artifacts that were known as some of the
most cherished of pre-Islamic antiquity.
The jihadists' reasoning? In the video they circulated on social media, one
fighter says:
"These statues, these idols, and these antiquities, when Allah, Glorified
and Exalted be He, ordered to destroy and remove them, it was an easy
matter. We do not care even if it costs billions of dollars."