Deliberate destruction and theft of cultural heritage have been conducted by the Islamic State since 2014 in Iraq, Syria, and to a lesser extent in Libya. The destruction targets various places of worship under ISIL control and ancient historical artifacts. In Iraq, between the fall of Mosul in June 2014 and February 2015, IS had plundered and destroyed at least 28 historical religious buildings. Valuable items from some buildings were looted in order to smuggle and sell them to foreigners to finance the running of the Islamic State.
Motivation
IS justifies the destruction of cultural heritage sites by its Salafism, which, according to its followers, places "great importance on establishing tawhid (monotheism)", and "eliminating shirk (polytheism)". Thus there is an ideological underpinning to their destruction of historical and cultural heritage sites. IS views its actions in sites like Palmyra and Nimrud as being in accordance with Sunni Islamic tradition.
Beyond the ideological aspects of the destruction, there are other, more practical, reasons behind IS's destruction of historic sites. Grabbing the world's attention is easily done through the destruction of such sites, given the extensive media coverage and international condemnation that comes afterwards. Destroying historic ruins also allows IS to wipe the slate clean and to start afresh, leaving no traces of any previous culture or civilization. It also provides an ideal platform for the group to establish its own identity and leave its mark on history. Despite the images showing extreme destruction, ISIL has also been making use of the looted antiquities to finance their activities. Despite the UN's ban on the trade of artifacts looted from Syria since 2011, the group has been smuggling these artifacts out of the Middle East and on to the underground antique markets of Europe and North America.
Destroyed heritage
Mosques and shrines
In 2014, media reported destruction of multiple religious buildings belonging to both Sunni and Shia sects throughout areas captured by ISIL. Among them were the tomb of Ibn al-Athir, Imam Abbas Mosque in Mosul, the Sheikh Jawad Al-Sadiq Mosque, Tomb of Sayyid Ar-Mamut Baba, Qaddo Mosque, Martyrs' Mosque, Saad Ibn Aqeel Shrine in Tal Afar, the Sufi Ahmed al-Rifai Shrine and Sheikh Ibrahim's shrine in Mahlabiya District.
In Mosul, ISIL also targeted several tombs with shrines built over them. In July 2014, ISIL destroyed one of the tombs of prophet Daniel (also in Mosul) with explosives. On 24 July 2014, the tomb and mosque of the prophet Jonah was also destroyed with explosives. On 25 July 2014, the 13th-century Mausoleum of Imam Awn Al-Din in Mosul, one of the few structures to have survived the 13th-century Mongol invasion, was destroyed by ISIL. The destruction was mostly carried out with explosives, but in some cases bulldozers were used. On 27 July, ISIL destroyed the tomb of Prophet Jirjis (George).
On 24 September 2014, the Al-Arba'een Mosque in Tikrit, containing forty tombs from the Umar era, was blown up. The building also contained two shrines, one dedicated to Sitt Nafisa and the other dedicated to Amr ibn Jundab al-Ghafari.
On 26 February 2015, ISIL blew up the 12th century Green Mosque in central Mosul.
In March 2015, ISIL bulldozed to the ground the Hamu Al-Qadu Mosque in Mosul, dating back to 1880. The Hamu-Al-Qadu mosque contained an earlier tomb of Ala-al-din Ibn Abdul Qadir Gilani. In the same year ISIL ordered the removal of all decorative elements and frescoes from mosques in Mosul, even those containing Quranic verses that mention Allah. They were described by ISIL as "an erroneous form of creativity, contradicting the basics of sharia". At least one imam in Mosul opposing that order was shot to death.
In 2016, ISIL destroyed the Minaret of Anah in Al Anbar Province, which dates back to the Abbasid Caliphate. The minaret was only rebuilt in 2013 after its destruction by an unknown perpetrator during the Iraqi Civil War in 2006.
In 2017, ISIL destroyed the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and its leaning minaret. This was the mosque where ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the Islamic State caliphate three years prior.