ISIS destroys Mar Elian

[Thanas]

Source

Islamic State (Isis) militants have bulldozed parts of the ancient monastery of Mar Elian in Qaryatain, a strategic town located in the central Syrian province of Homs which has been seized from forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. IS-linked Twitter accounts posted pictures of the destruction of the monastery, which was founded in 432 on the claimed spot of St. Elian's death, for "worshipping a God other than Allah".

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), IS also transferred dozens of Assyrian Christians, who were kidnapped after the capture of Qaryatain, near its northern Syria de facto capital of Raqqa.

Mar Elian is also the place where priest Jacques Mourad was abducted back in May. Mourad was known to help both Christians and Muslims and was preparing aid for the arrival of hundreds of refugees from Palmyra.

"It was an important pilgrimage site for the surrounding Christian community," Dr Nicholas al-Jeloo, an expert on Assyrian monasteries in Iraq from the University of Melbourne, told IBTimes UK.

Al-Jeloo said the tomb of the saint was from the 4th century but the structure was damaged by recent excavation and rebuilt recently in similar style.

The jihadist group captured Qaryatain, which lies south-west of Palmyra Roman ruins and 85km from Homs, after heavy clashes with regime forces. Then the group abducted about 230 Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholics. Of those captured, 48 have been released and 110 were transferred to Raqqa, according to SOHR. The Christians would be given the choice of conversion to Islam or paying "jizya", a tax on non-Muslims.

Earlier in March, IS blew up part of the ancient monastery of Mar Behnam in Iraq near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, south-east of Mosul. Photos released by IS members on social media show the 4th-century monastery's tomb complex of Mar (Saint) Behnam and Mart (Saint) Sarah reduced to rubble.The monastery was also founded in the 4th century and built on the tomb of Berhnam and his sister Sarah, who were converted to Christianity by St Matthew. IS fighters stormed the monastery in July 2014 and expelled its resident monks.

"They're doing this gradually. They scared the people away and now they're destroying these people's heritage. I don't understand: why would you do that? Why destroy something it's not yours?," al-Jeloo said. "No palace, monastery, church, ruins is ours to destroy. It's the world's property. That's why I'm concerned the world's community is not doing enough to stop Isis."

In March, an IS-linked Twitter account posted pictures of what appears to be jihadists smashing crosses and defacing statues, Christian murals and paintings at St George Chaldean Catholic monastery near Mosul. The monastery, located on the Ba'werah neighbourhood on a hill north of Mosul on the other side of the Tigris river, was founded by the Assyrian Church of the East in the 10th century but rebuilt as a seminary by the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1846.

Also in March, IS militants reportedly bulldozed the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra, and the Nimrud archaeological site near Mosul. On 26 February, the jihadist group published a video showing militants destroying artefacts in a Mosul museum and at the Nergal Gate to ancient Nineveh.

Mar Elian on wikipedia. The place is near Palmyra.

[NoXion]

So which God would that be, hmmm?

[Grumman]

So which God would that be, hmmm?

Saint Elian, presumably.

[Nephtys]

Who knows less about their own religion than religious fundamentalists? It's not like THEY ALL WORSHIP THE EXACT SAME GOD or anything.

[Highlord Laan]

In response, I think we should publicly and blatantly put a JDAM through the Dome of the Rock. Reciprocity, since obviously the only language these animals speak is force.

[Grumman]

In response, I think we should publicly and blatantly put a JDAM through the Dome of the Rock. Reciprocity, since obviously the only language these animals speak is force.

Are you being a moron ironically, or seriously?

[Thanas]

He is a well-known idiot who overreacts to everything, so he probably is at least flouting a testing balloon here.

[Honorius]

In response, I think we should publicly and blatantly put a JDAM through the Dome of the Rock. Reciprocity, since obviously the only language these animals speak is force.

...........

...........

You do realize that would cause the Wailing Wall to collapse as well? Said wall being holy to Jews? Also said Dome and wall are in Israel and would not be well received at all?

[Purple]

You do realize that would cause the Wailing Wall to collapse as well?

Not nesecerily. It all depends on how much explosives you stuff in the warhead. If you removed the warhead altogether and just went for a kinetic strike you'd probably do immense visual damage without much structural damage.

[Broomstick]

In response, I think we should publicly and blatantly put a JDAM through the Dome of the Rock. Reciprocity, since obviously the only language these animals speak is force.

Hey, fuckwit:

1) The Dome of the Rock is venerated not just by ISIS but all Muslims, so nice going pissing off the ones that actually want to live with other people in peace, appreciate history, and aren't assholes

2) It would also obliterate what remains of the Jewish Temple, so nice going there, too. Or didn't you realize that that lump has significance to more than one group?

3) Fuck you, the proper response to destroying historical monuments isn't to destroy even more historical monuments.

4) Just plain fuck you and all the other vindictive assholes.

[Broomstick]

You do realize that would cause the Wailing Wall to collapse as well?

Not nesecerily. It all depends on how much explosives you stuff in the warhead. If you removed the warhead altogether and just went for a kinetic strike you'd probably do immense visual damage without much structural damage.

Don't encourage this shit.

[Iroscato]

In response, I think we should publicly and blatantly put a JDAM through the Dome of the Rock. Reciprocity, since obviously the only language these animals speak is force.

You absolute thundering backside.

[cmdrjones]

In response, I think we should publicly and blatantly put a JDAM through the Dome of the Rock. Reciprocity, since obviously the only language these animals speak is force.

Hey, fuckwit:

1) The Dome of the Rock is venerated not just by ISIS but all Muslims, so nice going pissing off the ones that actually want to live with other people in peace, appreciate history, and aren't assholes

2) It would also obliterate what remains of the Jewish Temple, so nice going there, too. Or didn't you realize that that lump has significance to more than one group?

3) Fuck you, the proper response to destroying historical monuments isn't to destroy even more historical monuments.

4) Just plain fuck you and all the other vindictive assholes.

Well, I suppose a factor to be considered is the NATURE of the historical monument. If the Norks collapse would you argue to keep all the monuments to "dear glorious leader"?

[Purple]

Don't encourage this shit.

I ain't. I only explained how it could be done if we wanted to. I newer said it would be a good idea to try.

Well, I suppose a factor to be considered is the NATURE of the historical monument. If the Norks collapse would you argue to keep all the monuments to "dear glorious leader"?

It is my understanding that periods of brutal dictatorship are among the things you want people NOT to forget.

[Broomstick]

Well, I suppose a factor to be considered is the NATURE of the historical monument. If the Norks collapse would you argue to keep all the monuments to "dear glorious leader"?

We should probably take down any that post a risk to health and safety, if any, given that a lot of them are in inhabited cities... but yes, keeping them for historical reasons might not be a bad idea. I expect the Norks could make some money using them as tourist attractions, which they'll need to rebuild their economy if such a regime change comes to pass.

[Elheru Aran]

There's a reason you can still find old Soviet monuments in former Warsaw Pact cities and such. The loose stuff you can junk-- there are places where there's absolute heaps of Lenin busts and such-- but the bigger memorials you leave up because, well, it's part of your history. Kinda-sorta like why some parts of the US have memorials commemorating the Civil War and what not. It's not particularly a part of history that you *like* remembering, but you *should* remember it.

[Raw Shark]

A few generations removed, the U.S. Civil War is kind of badass, and is worth having statues over. I mean, sure, I disagreed with about half of the figures depicted, but there was mass carnage over ideals and that is worth remembering.

[Elheru Aran]

And then you have the argument that could be made that leaving such memorials up leads to a glorification of the culture/government that was deposed... *shrugs* it could keep going around and around, people are dumb like that.

Political monuments are one thing, though. Historic locations like Palmyra, Mar Elian, and the Dome of the Rock have far more historic and cultural significance than they do political. So there's much more reason to keep them around, besides the fact that the idiotic idea of putting a JDAM through the Dome would put us on the same level as the ISIS barbarians.

[Raw Shark]

At which point does a political monument become a historical landmark?

[Channel72]

Blowing up the Dome of the Rock is a fantastic idea - if your goal is to completely alienate about a billion people, increase ISIS and Al Qaeda recruitment effectiveness by over 1000%, cause Iran to cancel the nuke deal and quadruple it's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, destroy any remaining credibility whatsoever the US has left in the Middle East, and send Israel into a recession as its tourism industry collapses.

[Elheru Aran]

At which point does a political monument become a historical landmark?

When you can make a fairly valid argument that the movement that gave birth to the monument will likely have changed over time via social development (I don't think 'maturation' is quite the right word) to the point where the political relevance of the monument is obsolete. This can be as short as a few decades (think Saddam Hussein statues in Iraq) or many centuries (British royal memorabilia, seeing as the English still have their royal family). Arguably, this hasn't happened yet to most of the Soviet monuments. Civil War monuments are borderline, although they tend to be made with an eye towards historical or cultural significance rather than political (which is a matter of debate, of course).

Take Roman monuments; many of them were straight-up political, although not quite in the modern sense. The Arch of Titus, for example, was basically built to say 'Look at me, I kicked ass up and down the world, fear me'. Now Titus is long gone, and the arch's relevance is mostly that of a historical record. Other monuments were made with a religious context in mind, such as statues of the Emperor in his role as Pontifex Maximus, or temples or whatever, but now they're just history.

[Xisiqomelir]

You do realize that would cause the Wailing Wall to collapse as well?

A JDAM through Al-Aqsa would, but it is possible to destroy the mosque while keeping the Wall intact. The chief Rabbi of the Israeli Army, Shlomo Goren, had a solid plan for doing just that in 1967 using the cover of war, but the Army didn't go for it.

Honestly, it would have really helped disentangle the "Jerusalem situation" and it's not like Israel could have been any more hated as a result.

[Esquire]

Are you an idiot? It wouldn't 'disentangle' anything; it would provoke the Jihad to end all Jihads. Right now, most Muslims - like most people, funnily enough - are basically good people just trying to get along, but if you deliberately destroy one of the holiest sites in Islam the radical fringe will become the average center.

[Thanas]

The idiots come crawling out of the woodwork. "Sure, let's just bomb that site that is built on top of another archeological site because we are spiteful and equate 0.0001% of people with all of them. Oh yes, we are so much better than ISIS."

[cmdrjones]

Don't encourage this shit.

I ain't. I only explained how it could be done if we wanted to. I newer said it would be a good idea to try.

Well, I suppose a factor to be considered is the NATURE of the historical monument. If the Norks collapse would you argue to keep all the monuments to "dear glorious leader"?

It is my understanding that periods of brutal dictatorship are among the things you want people NOT to forget.

Then nathan bedford forrest can stay where he is? Same with Lincoln? cool.