(news.com-Australia) In Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, ISIS jihadists blew up the Mosque of the Prophet Younis - or Jonah, the prophet who in both the Bible and Koran was swallowed by a whale. The next day, it was the turn of the Mosque of Sheeth, or Seth, said to be the burial site of the third son of Adam and Eve. Then they reduced to rubble the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis. They also removed the crosses on the domes and brick walls of the 1,800-year-old Mar Behnam monastery, then stormed it, forcing the monks and priest to flee or face death. Mosul had a Christian population of around 100,000 a decade ago. Before last month's militant takeover the city's Christian population was estimated to be around 5,000. Days after ISIS proclaimed over loudspeakers from mosques that Christians must convert to Islam, pay an exorbitant tax or "die by the sword," Christians all over the city were forced to flee, leaving some 200 in the city.
2014-07-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive