UN Security Council slams IS barbarism in Iraq

The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned the Islamic State’s “latest barbaric acts” in Iraq, including the destruction of priceless historical artifacts in Mosul.

The group released a video on Thursday showing militants using sledgehammers to smash the ancient artifacts, describing the relics as idols that must be removed.

“The members of the Security Council strongly condemn the ongoing barbaric terrorist acts in Iraq by ISIL (Islamic State)” and “the deliberate destruction of irreplaceable religious and cultural artifacts housed in the Mosul Museum and burning of thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the Mosul Library,” the UN body said in a statement.

Recent acts cited by the council for condemnation included the abduction of over 100 Sunni tribesmen and the killing of 45 Iraqis by burning them alive.

The council added that the group “must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence, and hatred it espouses must be stamped out.”

Earlier this month, the council passed a resolution targeting the sources of funding for IS and the Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq.

The head of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, also condemned the group, urging action at the International Criminal Court and calling for a coalition to prevent the illegal trafficking of stolen artifacts.

“This tragedy is far from just a cultural issue: it’s an issue of major security,” she said Friday. “We see clearly how terrorists use the destruction of heritage in their strategy to destabilize and manipulate populations so that they can assure their own domination.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFIo0gM0BWo

In January, Islamic State militants ransacked the Central Library of Mosul, smashing the locks and taking around 2,000 books — leaving only Islamic texts. Days later, militants broke into University of Mosul’s library. They made a bonfire out of hundreds of books on science and culture, destroying them in front of students.

Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the surrounding Nineveh province fell to the militants during their blitz last June after Iraqi security forces melted away.

In their push, the extremists captured large swaths of land in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, declared a self-styled caliphate on territories that are under their control, killing members of religious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and destroying houses of worship.

The region under IS control in Iraq has nearly 1,800 of Iraq’s 12,000 registered archaeological sites and the militants appear to be out to cleanse it of any non-Islamic ideas, including library books, archaeological relics, and even Islamic sites considered idolatrous.