Translated material
Islamic State militants destroyed a medieval monastery in Syria
The militants of the "Islamic State" (in Russia, the organization is recognized as extremist and banned) destroyed a Catholic monastery in the city of El Qaryatayn in western Syria, built in the 5th century AD. e.
On August 21, militants posted photos of the monastery of St. Elian destroyed by bulldozers on social networks.
The destruction of the monastery was also confirmed by representatives of the Catholic mission in Syria and the human rights organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Islamic State militants captured the town of Qaryatayn on August 5, taking about 250 hostages, mostly Christians. Only 48 of them, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , were released, the fate of 70 people is unknown, and the rest were taken out of the city to one of the Islamic State bases.
A representative of the Catholic mission in Syria told AP that, according to preliminary data, the well-known church of St. Elian, located on the territory of the monastery of the same name, was also destroyed (English).
- In May 2015, Islamic State militants captured the Syrian city of Palmyra. It was reported that the militants planted explosives under the ancient monuments in Palmyra, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, but so far they have not suffered. On August 19, it became known that the militants held captive, tortured, and then executed the keeper of Palmyra, 82-year-old archaeologist Khaled Assad.
- In the summer of 2015, when the Islamic State militants captured Iraqi Mosul, they destroyed shrines revered by Shiites and Assyrian Christians in the city. The Islamic State also destroyed hundreds of thousands of publications in the library of Mosul - in particular, they burned a collection of maps and books from the Ottoman Empire, as well as a unique Gospel weighing 90 kilograms. In addition, statues in the Mosul Museum were destroyed, including the world-famous Assyrian statue of a winged bull with a human head, which dates back to the 7th century BC.
- In early March, Islamic State militants bulldozed the ruins of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.