ISIS destroys ancient Christian cemeteries, converts church into a military office in Nineveh
ISIS information office in Nineveh released images showing its members destroying ancient Christian graves in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
(IraqiNews.com) Mosul – According to a local source in Nineveh province ISIS destroyed several Christian tombs and grave stones and converted a church into a military office as seen in the photos below.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “The militants of the terrorist organization ISIS destroyed ancient tombs belonging to Christians on the outskirts of Nineveh and the center of the province,”explaining that “all of them held archaeological value as ancient Christian cemeteries in Nineveh.”
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, added: “ISIS militants removed all crucifixes from the churches in Mosul and a number of churches have been turned to the headquarters of the organization.”
ISIS’ information office in Nineveh subsequently published these photos of the destruction in series titled “Leveling Graves and Erasing Polytheist Symbols.” The photos show ISIS members destroying gravestones with sledgehammers and defacing crosses carved into them. The photos are prefaced by the religious justification for ISIS’s actions which is a hadith determining that any grave higher than ground level must be shattered and any images on it must be erased: “Ali bin Abi Taleb said to Al-Hayyaj Al-Asadi: ‘I am dispatching you with what the Prophet dispatched me: That you not leave an elevated grave without levelling it, nor an image without erasing it.'”
ISIS has destroyed many historic churches, shrines and mosques, including the mosques of the prophets known in the bible as Jonah and Seth, according to local sources. As IraqiNews.com reported in a video last week, ISIS destroyed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud.
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