ISIS has appeared like plague from the east, spreading their barbaric control across the Middle East. They’ve also taken the media by storm as the entire world now turns their eyes in the direction of Iraq and Syria wondering what will happen next. Now reports are coming in that ISIS isn’t just spreading their reach across the Middle East, but they are implementing their New Islamic Caliphate. How? By destroying the relics of the past to make room for the new. Apparently, the relics are established mosques and shrines.
In an initial report by Al Arabiya through Now The End Begins , at least four shrines to Sunni Arab or Sufi figures have been demolished, while six Shiite mosques, or husseiniyahs, have also been destroyed in the northern parts of the Nineveh province occupied by ISIS. Pictures have been posted on the internet by ISIS showing the Sunni and Sufi shrines demolished by bulldozers. Shiite mosques and shrines were destroyed by explosives.
In another report by Before It Is News , local residents of Nineveh have confirmed that the buildings had been destroyed. Ahmed, a 51-year-old resident, had this to say about the demolition of their holy buildings:
“We feel very sad for the demolition of these shrines, which we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers.”
Not only are Islamic holy places being destroyed, two cathedrals have been captured by ISIS too. An employee of Mosul’s Chaldean cathedral said militants occupied it and the Syrian Orthodox cathedral in the city after finding them empty. They removed the crosses at the front of the buildings and replaced them with the Islamic State’s black flag. It is assumed that ISIS prefers the architecture of a cathedral more than those of mosques and shrines if they haven’t been destroyed.
The Nineveh province, primarily Mosul, was overran by ISIS last month. The offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands and alarmed the international community. We here at The Inquisitr reported numerous times on the constantly-updating situation in the Middle East and ISIS. This includes their methods of displaying their dominance, especially by hanging the bodies of eight rebel fighters along with kidnapping nurses . However, it seems that ISIS does have some heart, as they recently released the nurses, in which the nurses say they were treated well . Unfortunately, that won’t cover the fact they mass executed a lot of people. Also, if you don’t know what is happening with ISIS , we posted up a quick video that explains the situation in a summarized fashion.
Right now, we only know about the attacks on Sunni and Shiite holy places, along with the cathedrals. Mosul and Nineveh has many ethnic and religious minorities including the Kurds, Turkmen, and Yazidis. It is unknown if their holy places have been affected too.
[Image via Twitter Posts of ISIS through Al Arabiya]