Tag Archives: isis

Destruction of the Mosul mosque and the challenges of international law

Posted on: June 30, 2017 by Alexander Herman

Yesterday, during what appears to be the near-conclusion of the battle for Mosul in Iraq, Iraqi forces moved further into the centre of the old town and, as they did, came across the ruins of the famed al-Nuri Mosque. The 12th century mosque, the same holy site where the ISIS caliphate had been proclaimed in […]

UK’s new Emergency Heritage Management Project

Posted on: November 18, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Officially launched last month, the UK’s Emergency Heritage Management Project will look to help preserve and recover cultural objects and edifices in Iraq that are under threat. In the words of the press release: “It will create a team of local experts to assess, document and stabilise afflicted sites in Iraq, and help begin the process […]

Civilisation Under Attack on BBC

Posted on: July 1, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Last night BBC 4 aired a programme hosted by journalist Dan Cruickshank entitled Civilisation Under Attack, charting the impact of the Islamic State (or ISIS) on antiquities in regions under the group’s control in Iraq and Syria. The programme covered the destruction of the site at Nimrud and of objects in the Mosul Museum, and included a […]

Continued destruction by Isis in Iraq

Posted on: March 9, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

There has been a slew of media coverage in the UK and elsewhere on the reported destruction by agents of the Islamic State (ISIS) of the unequalled archaeological site of Nimrud in Iraq. While many of the reliefs, wall paintings and a number of the mythical winged bull gatekeepers are kept out of harm’s way […]

Further attempts at protecting Syrian heritage

Posted on: November 19, 2014 by Alexander Herman

The US Congress will soon be entertaining a Bill, proposed last Thursday, that seeks to offer protection for endangered Syrian cultural objects and that would set up a Coordinator for International Cultural Property Protection (what American cultural heritage lawyer Rick St. Hilaire calls a cultural property protection “czar”). These are of course welcome developments. The protection […]

ISIS in Iraq: How much looting?

Posted on: August 26, 2014 by Alexander Herman

A few recent articles have reported on the looting of antiquities from the areas of Syria and Iraq controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS): in The Guardian in June, The Sunday Times in July and the International Business Times. It is unclear from the sources whether such looting is actually being perpetrated by members of ISIS or […]