This is the latest instance of ISIS targeting items and places of cultural and religious significance, namely ancient sites, shrines, mosques, temples, monuments and manuscripts, in Syria and Iraq.
A newly released ISIS video shows that in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, ISIS members are lobbing hundreds of Christian books into fire.
That ISIS video shows that terrorists throw pamphlets and manuscripts bearing crucifixes in a bonfire on the orders of the group’s so-called Diwan Al-Hisba, a police unit that metes out punishment to those refusing to conform to ISIS laws.
This is the latest instance of ISIS targeting items and places of cultural and religious significance, namely ancient sites, shrines, mosques, temples, monuments and manuscripts, in Syria and Iraq.
It was reported earlier that ISIS caused much irreversible damage in Syria’s ancient central city of Palmyra. The city, which is on the list of the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites, fell to the terrorists last May. Later ISIS executed Palmyra’s leading antiquities scholar, 81-year-old Khaled Asaad.
It was also reported in February this year that it destroyed around 10,000 books and more than 700 rare manuscripts when it blew up the main library in Mosul.
In this month, General Lloyd Austin, the commander of US Central Command, recommended before the Senate Armed Services Committee that more American troops be provided to retake Mosul and Raqqah, ISIS stronghold in Syria.
Iraqi forces are, meanwhile, preparing to retake the city, the largest under ISIS control.
On Friday, An American newspaper the Hill reported that planning is underway for US troopers to be moved closer to the frontline during the lead-up and the eventual battle to retake Mosul. The plan envisions a 15-member US team joining Iraqi brigades during the preparatory stages and the showdown itself.
Since June 2014, Iraq has been observing ISIS terrorist activities. The US-led coalition started its operations allegedly hitting ISIS, although many believes ISIS is a creation of the west.
However, the 66-member coalition has been failing to control ISIS terrorism, when a concerted push by Iraqi forces are dealing terrorists and forcing it out of the central city of Ramadi, the capital of the western Anbar Province.