NINEVEH -- POSSIBLY THE LATEST ACT OF CULTURAL VANDALISM BY ISLAMIC STATE

The so-called Islamic State group is threatening to destroy the walls of Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian empire, in what would be its latest act of cultural vandalism.

People living in the Bab Nergal area of Mosul, close to the historic site of Nineveh, said militants told them they would destroy the walls if the Iraqi army attacked, a report claims. Nineveh was once the largest city in the world, with a population of as many as 150,000 people in 700 BC. Although it now lies ruins, it is still surrounded by a mostly intact 7.5-mile brick rampart.

Over the past month the Islamic State has seized hundreds of Assyrian relics from Mosul's cultural museum as well as destroyed Assyrian monuments in the city, which it claims 'distort Islam', AINSA reported. Assyrians believe themselves to be Iraq's original indigenous people, with a documented history stretching back to 4750BC. They now comprise 95 per cent of the country's Christian population.

Nearly 200,000 were forced to flee their homes around the Nineveh plain last summer as Islamic State made its lightning advance across Iraq. Most now live as refugees in Iraq's Kurdish areas.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900530/ISIS-plan-destroy-walls-Nineveh-capital-Assyrian-Empire-one-important-archaeological-sites-Iraq.html