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| The ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, which was destroyed by ISIS on March 5 |
The
following excerpts are from AINA.org:
(AINA)
-- Yesterday ISIS destroyed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, a
city dating back to 1400 B.C. and was one of the capitals of Assyria.
A week before that ISIS destroyed the Museum of Mosul, which
contained priceless Assyrian artifacts. A week before that ISIS
attacked 35 Assyrian villages in Khabur Syria, driving 3,000
Assyrians away, never to return. 6 months before that ISIS drove
200,000 Assyrians out of their homes in the Nineveh Plain in north
Iraq, and they still have not returned, and most likely never will.
As
they were being released, ISIS told the Assyrians from Syria to never
return to their villages, else they would be killed. They are in
Hasaka with only the clothes on their backs, all of their possessions
lost forever, unreachable in their ISIS occupied village.
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| The ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, which was destroyed by ISIS on March 5 |
But
the destruction of ancient Assyrian cities and artifacts in Iraq and
Syria is the most devastating -- because of its symbolism. In
destroying Assyrian archaeological and historical sites, ISIS is
striking at the very root of Assyrian civilization, erasing all
traces of their heritage and extirpating them from their lands.
Renya
Benjamin, an Assyrian woman from Hamilton, Canada, visited Nimrud in
2012. Upon hearing about the destruction of this irreplaceable world
cultural heritage site, the city of her ancestors, she said:
Nimrud,
Assyria. My favourite place in the world was destroyed by ISIS today.
I will forever be thankful to the Assyrians of Baghdede [Qaraqosh]
for taking me to visit this majestic place in 2012. And I will
forever be devastated in knowing that my children will never
experience the same pride I felt walking on the cuneiform etched
tiled floor and touching the majestic Lamassu that my king once
touched, 3000 years ago.
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| The ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, which was destroyed by ISIS on March 5 |
According
to Renya, during her visit one of the local Arab tribal men who was a
guard told her how happy he was that she came, as these were her
ancestral artifacts. The men from the same tribe protected the site
during the fall of Saddam when looters tried to access it.
Read
more by clicking below:
Brick By Brick, Person By Person, ISIS is Erasing Assyrians From Their Homelands
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