- ISIS fighters destroyed ancient ruins of Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud dating back to the 13th century B.C.
- The attack, near Mosul, took place last month, but a seven-minute video of destruction has now emerged
- It shows militants hacking and drilling away at 3,000-year-old relics and blowing up the ancient ruins
- The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called the destruction of the Nimrud ruins 'a war crime'
Published:
09:17 GMT, 12 April 2015
|
Updated:
17:37 GMT, 12 April 20152.9k
shares
A
video allegedly showing ISIS militants destroying a historic city in
northern Iraq dating back to the 13th century B.C. using sledgehammers,
drills and barrel bombs, has emerged this morning.
ISIS
fighters can be seen hammering and drilling away at sculptures and
stone slabs believed to be some 3,000 years old in the ruins of the
ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, located near the Islamic
State-controlled city of Mosul.
The
seven-minute expertly edited video, purportedly shows Islamic State
destroying the relics before bulldozing and blowing up the ruins,
completely obliterating the historic site.
The
destruction at Nimrud, which took place last month, follows other
attacks on cultural heritage sites carried out by the Islamic State,
which now holds a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its
self-declared caliphate.
Scroll down for video
Attack: An ISIS militant uses a
sledgehammer to destroy a several thousand years old stone slab in a
video allegedly showing the group's attack on the ancient ruins of the
city of Nimrud, near Mosul, Iraq
As well as attacking the city by hand,
hammer and drill, the video shows the group making barrel bombs which
they lined up along the ancient relics inside the ruins of what was once
the capital of the Assyrian Empire, founded some time in the 13th
century B.C.
ISIS released the video, believed to
have been filmed last month, showing militants smashing artifacts in the
historic city, which is on UNESCO's tentative list of world heritage
sites, before blowing it up
The
attack on the ancient site horrified archaeologists when it was first
reported last month, and has been declared a 'war crime' by U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The
seven-minute video, posted late Saturday, shows bearded militants using
sledgehammers, jackhammers and saws to take down huge alabaster reliefs
depicting Assyrian kings and deities.
A
bulldozer brings down walls, while militants fill barrels with
explosives and later destroy three separate areas of the site in massive
explosions.
'God
has honored us in the Islamic State to remove all of these idols and
statutes worshipped instead of Allah in the past days,' one militant
says in the video.
Another militant vows that 'whenever we seize a piece of land, we will remove signs of idolatry and spread monotheism.'
Attack: The video, made available by a
Jihadist media outlet, shows ISIS militants destroying a stoneslab with
a sledgehammer at what they say is the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud
in northern Iraq
Horrified: The attack on the ancient site has been declared a 'war crime' by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Islamic State militants have been
destroying ancient relics on several sites, daying they promote idolatry
that violate their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law
It
is believed parts of the footage may be from a nearby site as some of
the figures in the Nimrud video appears to have rebar, ribbed steel bars
designed to reinforce concrete that are a technique of modern building.
However,
an Iraqi Antiquities Ministry official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said all the items at Nimrud were authentic.
When
the destruction was first reported several weeks ago a Mosul tribal
leader confirmed that SIIS had 'looted the valuables in Nimrud and then
proceeded to level the site to the ground. There used to be statues and
walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely.'
'In
a new crime in their series of reckless offenses they assaulted the
ancient city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy machinery,
appropriating archaeological attractions dating back 13 centuries BC,'
the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO said in a statement last
month.
UNESCO
head Irina Bokova added: 'This is yet another attack against the Iraqi
people, reminding us that nothing is safe from the cultural cleansing
under way in the country: it targets human lives, minorities, and is
marked by the systematic destruction of humanity's ancient heritage,'
she said
Complete destruction: The end of the video allegedly shows Islamic State militants blowing up the ancient ruins near Mosul
One of many: This is only the most recent video purporting to show Islamic State fighters destroying invaluable heritage sites
Islamic
State militants have been destroying ancient relics on several sites,
saying they promote idolatry that violate their fundamentalist
interpretation of Islamic law, including the ancient Iraqi city of
Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Authorities also believe they've
sold others on the black market to fund their atrocities.
This is only the most recent proof of Islamic State fighters destroying invaluable heritage sites.
A
shocking video emerged last week, showing ISIS militants using
sledgehammers and AK-47 rifles to destroy walls and statues in Iraq's
UNESCO World Heritage city of Hatra.
In the slickly produced seven minute footage, jihadists are shown smashing shrines and statues in the 2,000-year old city.
Militants
are also recorded chipping away at the bases of some of the larger wall
sculptures and cracking boulders into ancient city pillars, while eerie
music plays in the background.
The
video cuts to jihadists speaking directly to the camera with one
declaring they destroyed the site because it is 'worshipped instead of
God'.
Last
month, ISIS terrorists were pictured toppling crosses, smashing
Christian relics with hammers and erecting the black flag of ISIS on
churches in Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian empire.
NIMRUD: CAPITAL OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
The
Assyrians first rose around 2,500 B.C. and at one point ruled over a
realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to what is present-day
Iran.
They
left dozens of palaces and temples decorated with huge reliefs mainly
depicting their kings' military campaigns and conquests, hunting lions
and making sacrifices to the gods.
Their
main hallmark was the colossal winged man-headed lions or bulls,
protective deities put at the entrances of palaces and temples weighing
about 10-30 tons each, some of which are now at the British Museum.
Located
on the eastern side of the Tigris River, Nimrud was founded in the 13th
century B.C. During the reign of King Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud served
as the second capital for Assyrian Empire. Other Assyrian capitals were
Ashur, Dur Sharrukin and Ninevah.
Nimrud
and some of its kings were mentioned in the Bible, the city mentioned
under the name of Calah or Kalhu in the Book of Genesis.
Excavations
at Nimrud were first started by the British traveler and archaeologist
Austen Henry Layard from 1845 to 1851, followed by other foreign and
local excavation missions.
The
city is surrounded by a four-side wall measuring 8 kilometers (5 miles)
long. Among the ruins are the grand palace of Ashurnasirpal II, as well
as the temples of Nabu, the god of writing and the arts, and other
temples.
Among
the most significant discoveries at Nimrud were four tombs of royal
women. There, a collection of 613 pieces of gold jewelry and precious
stones were unearthed.
They
survived the looting of the Iraqi National Museum that followed the
U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as they were kept in a vault at the Central
Bank of Iraq building by Saddam Hussein's government.
No comments:
Post a Comment