Destruction of Ancient City By Isis Feared

<![CDATA[As the crisis mounts in Iraq, led by the militant group ISIS, fears are mounting that an ancient city, which featured in the movie "The Exorcist" will be destroyed. Featured in the horror film "The Exorcist" in 1973, the ancient city of Hatra was a 3rd century BC Assyrian settle which grew to become a fortress and a hub for trading and commerce. The site had impressive fortifications, which were made of two walls with a wide ditch in between. The outer wall was made of earthy materials, while the inner wall was mainly stone-based and had four fortified gates. This great city withstood Roman invasions in 116 and 198 AD, although some believe that the Romans might have breached the city in 230 AD. What remains today are breathtaking ruins that are now a UNESCO world heritage site. This place features buildings that used to be temples 200 feet high, and also stone statues that represented people, gods and goddesses, such as the well preserved statue of a robed woman believed to be the spouse of a king. Saddam Hussein closed the site down to visitors, but it was reopened after his dictatorship came to an end. It was resurrected by US troops who wanted to use the William Friedkin film, "The Exorcist" as the main theme to attract tourists, but because of the chaos that ensued from the Iraq war, plans weren't fully materialized. The city of Hatra was featured in the first scene of the movie. Now, security officials and police officers who were guarding the site fled because ISIS militants have taken over the area. One official who oversaw the security of Hatra, Mohammed Abdallah Khozal, reported that the police officers guarding the city left when they heard that ISIS was coming their way. He says that there is no one protecting the temple and rebels have taken full control. He fears that gun fights and explosives may cause more damage to the area. UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, voiced her concerns about the uprising taking place in Iraq and said that more of Iraq’s cultural heritage could be destroyed, as it was during the war. She calls on the rebels to avoid the destruction of cultural and religious sites, as their destruction is a war crime and a blow to the identity of the Iraqi people. One of the incidents that Bokova might have been referring to was the destruction of the al-Askari golden mosque in Samarra, north of Baghdad, by Islamist terrorists in 2006. These fears over the destruction of this heritage site by ISIS are certainly not unwarranted. Several landmarks have already been destroyed by terrorists. Earlier this month, the statue of the 19th century Iraqi composer and musician, Othman al-Mousuli, was destroyed when the city of Mosul was taken over by the militants. These rebels also destroyed the tomb of Arab poet Abu Tammam from the Abbasid era and the tomb of 12th century Arab philosopher Ibn al Athirl, who traveled with the army of sultan Salahuddin.]]>