IS destroys ancient Sumerian artifacts in Mosul

STONE AGE: The Islamic State’s Ninevah Province Media Office released a video Thursday showing its fighters destroying ancient Sumerian and Assyrian artifacts stored in the Mosul Historical Museum, reported London-based daily Arabi al-Jadid.  

“O Muslims, these are not artifacts behind me, but rather idols belonging to peoples who lived centuries ago, who worshipped them instead of God the almighty,” says one of the men in the video.

“When God almighty ordered that we destroy and obliterate these idols, we don’t think twice, no matter if they’re worth billions of dollars.”

IS members can be seen throughout the video smashing and destroying antiques, artifacts and statues with sledgehammers and jackhammers.

The video comes five days after IS forces were accused of cooperating with Turkish military forces entering Syria’s north Aleppo province on Sunday to retrieve the remains of the grave of Suleiman Shah, the grandson of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire.

(See Syria Direct’s previous reporting on the Islamic State-Turkish tensions over the site here.)

Turkish authorities indirectly informed IS fighters of the operation before its launch, Syria Direct reported earlier this week.

An Islamic State leader explained that the group had not destroyed the tomb because “it was not proven that people visited the tomb to pray, as the rawafid do,” Abu Mariya al-Aseef, self-proclaimed sharia expert, wrote in an announcement Sunday, using an Arabic term commonly referring to Shiites.

In related news, IS burned hundreds of novels and books containing love sonnets and poetry in Mosul’s central library on Wednesday which they deemed immoral or, haram, reported the pro-opposition Al-Riyad news outlet.

-February 26, 2015

-Photo courtesy of Abu Omar al-Fateh

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