ISIS destroyed oldest Christian monastery in Iraq

Islamic State terrorists have gotten their hands on Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery, which had stood unmoved in Mosul for 1,400 years. The place was a scene of worship for generations of monks.
New satellite photos obtained by the Associated Press (AP) have confirmed earlier fears of the complete destruction of the ancient St. Elijah’s Monastery of Mosul.

The AP talked to locals and Christian leaders in Mosul to get their views. Reverend Paul Thabit, 39, was completely distraught when comparing the photos obtained exclusively by the agency to his own pictures of how the monastery used to be.

“I can’t describe my sadness… Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land,” he said in Arabic.

“A big part of tangible history has been destroyed,” said Reverend Manual Yousif Boji, a Catholic pastor from Michigan, fondly remembering a trip to the Mosul monastery some 60 years ago.Islamic State (IS, ISIS/formerly ISIL) has been systematically eradicating Christianity’s traces from the region – be it the thousands of Iraqi and Syrian Christians murdered or now living in exile, or horrific events like the destruction of the world’s oldest religious landmarks.

There are more than 100 religious artefacts and sites destroyed by the terrorist group so far – including all manner of tombs, mosques, churches and shrines all across the so-called ‘caliphate’ the group proclaimed in Syria and Iraq. This includes precious historic sites such as libraries and ancient monuments.