ISIS News Update: Destroying Christian Graves in Drive for 'Cultural Cleansing'
Members of the Islamic State terrorist group are not only beheading and killing people but are also destroying graves of Christians in Iraq.
Proof of this was provided by the ISIS itself as its information office in Ninawa province, Iraq, published photos of the destruction on Thursday, with the caption "Levelling Graves and Erasing Polytheist Symbols," the Middle East Media Research Institute reported.
The photos were posted on several websites including the Shomoukh Al-Islam jihadi forum, showing "ISIS members shattering gravestones with sledgehammers and defacing crosses carved into them."
The institute said the destruction of graves was based on ISIS' "hadith determining that any grave higher than ground level must be shattered and any images on it must be erased."
Steven Stalinsky, Institute executive director, told FoxNews that "the April 16 destruction of Christian graves in Mosul, Iraq by the Islamic State is part of the organization's ongoing campaign against Christianity in the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world."
Stalinsky said the destruction of the graves is part of the ISIS' campaign to mock the West.
"It is important to note that ISIS is documenting its destruction and desecration of Christian sites and its attacks on Christian communities, and on other minorities' sites and communities, and is disseminating these images worldwide via social media," he told FoxNews. "By doing this, ISIS is not only showcasing what it is doing, but is also mocking the West by demonstrating that it is doing so freely, with no one trying to stop it."
Stalinsky said the destruction is a form of cultural cleansing of Iraq and Syria by ISIS.
"ISIS and other Islamists argue that elevated graves suggest the dead person is closer to Allah than the living, so they must be destroyed," said Ryan Mauro, national security analyst with the Clarion Project.
He added, "They believe that grave sites, even ones that aren't elevated, need to be destroyed if they become a place of idolatry in the form of grave worship. Christian ones are especially at risk because Christianity is seen as a form of polytheism."
