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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35360415Published by: BBC NEWS on 20 Jan 2016
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Satellite images showing the site of St Elijah's Monastery in March 2011 and September 2014 Satellite images confirm that the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been destroyed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS). St Elijah's stood on a hill near the northern city of Mosul for 1,400years.
But analysts said the images, obtained by the Associated Press, external, suggested it had been demolished in late 2014, soon after IS seized the city.
A Catholic priest from Mosul warned that its Christian history was "being barbarically levelled".
"We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land," said Father Paul Thabit Habib, who now lives in Kurdish-administered Irbil.
St Elijah's Monastery, or Deir Mar Elia, was believed to have been built in the late 6th Century
IS has targeted Christians in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, seizing their property and forcing them to convert to Islam, pay a special tax or flee.
The group has also [...]
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Who are the BBC News?The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total.
Where is Mosul?Mosul is a major city in northern Iraq. Located approximately 400 km (250 mi) north of Baghdad, Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank. The metropolitan area has grown to encompass substantial areas on both the "Left Bank" (east side) and the "Right Bank" (west side), as the two banks are described by the locals compared to the flow direction of Tigris.
What is Iraq?Iraq, officially known as the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 37 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.
What is ISIS?The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, Daesh, and other names) is a Salafi jihadist terrorist organisation. It is a former unrecognised proto-state that follows a fundamentalist, Salafi doctrine of Sunni Islam. ISIS gained global prominence in early 2014 when it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive, followed by its capture of Mosul and the Sinjar massacre.
