BAGHDAD
Daesh has destroyed many historical areas in Iraq, a senior minister said Wednesday, raising concern that more may follow.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The minister of tourism and antiquities, Adel Shirshab, spoke at the “Daesh: The enemy of humanity, history and civilization” forum held in Baghdad.
He called on the international community to stand by Iraq and help return to the country the historical artifacts stolen and sold by Daesh.
The deputy minister of tourism and antiquities, Kays Husayn Rashid, said that Daesh “sold Assyrian carvings and burned 1,500 handwritten books.”
The deputy minister said the government was also concerned that 520 historical houses located in Mosul could be burned.
He added that the militants were making unauthorized excavations in some historical areas and selling the artifacts they find.
The government said last week that Daesh had bulldozed the Nimrod City of the Assyrian area in southeast Mosul.
On Feb. 26, a video published on social media showed Daesh breaking some statues with sledgehammers in Mosul Museum.
Days before that, they attacked and burned Mosul Library, home to some 8,000 historical texts. There were many hand-written books in the library from the Ottoman, Abbasid and Ayyubid periods.
