The ISIS militants that have seized Iraq's northern city of Mosul have, not surprisingly, been engaging in a campaign of cultural cleansing—targeting not only the city's inhabitants, but its artistic and historical treasures. Religious buildings, cemeteries and public art have been destroyed or defaced, witnesses say. Among the destroyed works are sculptures of 19th-century musician and composer Osman al-Muesli and Abbasid-era poet Abu Tammam [12]. The grave of Ibn Athir [13], a philosopher and chronicler who travelled with Saladin during the 12th century, is also reported destroyed. ISIS consider visiting religious sites to be idol worship, and have also destroyed many shrines and other ancient buildings in Syria. A jizya [14] tax has been imposed on the city's Christian population, but most of the area's Christians [15]—some 160 families—fled before the ISIS advance. (Aydinlik [16], Turkey, June 21)
Among attacks on religious minorities, 15 members of the Yazidi [17] sect were killed when ISIS recaptured a group of inmates who had escaped from the city's prison when it was abandoned by the fleeing guards. Witnesses said that militiamen seperated the recaptured prisoners by their ethnic and religious identities, then killed the Yazidis and one Christian among them, while forcing the Muslims to join the ISIS militia. Some 14,000 prisoners from Mosul, Tikrit and other ISIS-held cities have reportedly been conscripted into the militia. (Irish Times [18], June 19; ANHA [19], June 13)
Aid agencies are straining to support the hundreds of thousands of people displaced from ISIS-held territory. In Erbil, capital of the autonomous northern Kurdish region, hotel lobbies are cluttered with families, with many more camping in parks or sheltering in mosques and churches. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), working with aid agencies, has set up several tent camps close to the checkpoints along the border between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq. But only a few thousand people have stopped there, most preferring to escape the desert dust and heat and push on into urban areas. The KRG's police force, the Asayish, have been accused of forcibly evicting displaced families form Erbil's parks and dumping them in the remote desert camps, where some have refused to stay and again fled. Aid workers protest that displaced persons are being lost in the confusion. (IRIN [20], June 25)
ISIS is meanwhile showing impressive media savvy. Their sympathizers are peddling hoodies, T-shirts and dolls branded with the group's logo over the Internet. Facebook was shamed into blocking advertizements from one such retailer, Indonesia-based Zirah Moslem products. One shirt, with the slogan "Mujahideen Around the World, United We Stand," shows muscle-bound fighters wearing keffiyehs and brandishing AK-47s like heroes from an action movie. Other slogans include "We Stand for ISIS" and "We Declare War, Fight Against Zionists." (NYP [21], June 24; Fox News [22], June 23) ISIS has also issued an online annual report [23] boasting of its advances, and launched a Twitter app [24]—subsequently disabled. (NPR [25], June 25)
