BAGHDAD: Jihadists on Wednesday blew up Mosul’s iconic leaning minaret and the adjacent mosque where their leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” in his only public appearance in 2014, an Iraqi commander said.
The Daesh group swiftly issued a statement via its Amaq propaganda agency blaming a US strike.
“Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 meters (yards) of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque and the Hadba” mosque, Staff Lt. Gen. Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement.
The destruction of two of Mosul’s best-known landmarks comes on the fourth day of an Iraqi offensive backed by the US-led coalition on the Old City, where holdout jihadists are making a bloody last stand.
It adds to a long list of Iraqi heritage sites and monuments the jihadist organization has destroyed in Iraq and Syria since Baghdadi created his “caliphate” straddling both countries, almost exactly three years ago.
Daesh blows up Mosul mosque where Baghdadi announced ‘caliphate’: commander
Daesh blows up Mosul mosque where Baghdadi announced ‘caliphate’: commander
Israeli forces demolish Palestinian house near Salfit
- The house, which was under construction, belonged to Sami Samir Naji
- Israeli authorities conducted a total of 538 demolitions last year
LONDON: Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian house under construction in Kafr Ad-Dik, a town west of Salfit in the northern occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.
Israeli troops, accompanied by military bulldozers, stormed the town and proceeded to the Sha’ab area, where they began demolishing a house that was under construction belonging to Sami Samir Naji, according to the Wafa news agency.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported that Israeli authorities conducted a total of 538 demolitions last year, which destroyed 1,400 structures. This included 304 inhabited homes, 74 uninhabited homes, 270 economic facilities, and 490 agricultural facilities. The demolitions primarily took place in the governorates of Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Tubas, and Nablus, Wafa added.
Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, there are about 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank.
