Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq's Mosul 'blown up' by ISIL

Mosque where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate destroyed by ISIL, army says, but armed group blames US air raid.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSYaUG00Xj4



 

The landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its leaning minaret have been blown up

In recent days Iraqi forces have pushed deeper into the last remaining areas held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in the centre of Iraq's second-largest city. 

"Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement late Wednesday.

Grand al-Nuri mosque is where ISIL's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a speech proclaiming the creation of a 'caliphate' [Reuters]
In a statement on its Amaq website, ISIL blamed US aircraft for destroying the mosque.

The US military denied the allegation. "We did not strike in that area," coalition spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters news agency by phone.

The Grand al-Nuri Mosque was where ISIL's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a rare appearance in June 2014 and gave a speech while standing at a pulpit to proclaim the creation of a "caliphate".

US Army Major-General Joseph Martin said the mosque destruction showed ISIL's brutality.

"The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS," said Martin in a statement.

"This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organisation must be annihilated."

Iraqis lovingly call the minaret Al-Hadba, or "the hunchback".

The mosque is named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The mosque was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi denounced the destruction, saying it was a "declaration of defeat" by ISIL. 


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/iconic-grand-al-nuri-mosque-iraq-mosul-blown-170621193402284.html

As I have stated time and time again.

Everyone hates muzzos.

EVEN MUZZOS HATE MUZZOS

As I have stated time and time again.

Everyone hates muzzos.

EVEN MUZZOS HATE MUZZOS

Why is the Islamic state the enemy of Islam, what are they doing that is unislamic or different to what $Profit Mo did?

I blame Islam.

Karnal wrote on Jun 29^th, 2017 at 5:48pm:

I blame Islam.

Everyone does.

Valkie wrote on Jun 28^th, 2017 at 7:07pm:

As I have stated time and time again. Everyone hates muzzos. EVEN MUZZOS HATE MUZZOS

True

Do muslims ever do anything other than procreating and spreading more of their god gobbing muck ?

They have to breed fast so they can blow each other up and still be around to marry 9 year olds.

Muzzo = murdering, pedophile, nutcase.

Joke
Two muzzos walked into a bar.........and blew up.

Typical

'Their fictitious state has fallen': Iraq declares end of IS 'caliphate'

Mosul: ​After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the ruined mosque at the heart of Mosul, and the prime minister declared the group's self-styled caliphate at an end.

Iraqi authorities expect the long battle for Mosul to end in coming days as remaining Islamic State fighters are bottled up in just a handful of neighbourhoods of the Old City.

The seizure of the nearly 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque - from where Islamic State proclaimed the caliphate nearly three years ago to the day - is a huge symbolic victory.

"The return of al-Nuri Mosque and al-Hadba minaret to the fold of the nation marks the end of the Daesh state of falsehood," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement, referring to the hardline Sunni Muslim group by an Arabic acronym.

The fall of Mosul would in effect mark the end of the Iraqi half of the IS caliphate, although the group still controls territory west and south of the city, ruling over hundreds of thousands of people.

Its de facto capital in Syria, Raqqa, is also close to falling.

A US-backed Kurdish-led coalition besieging Raqqa on Thursday fully encircled it after closing the militants' last way out from the south, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

These setbacks have reduced Islamic State's territory by 60 per cent from its peak two years ago and its revenue by 80 per cent, to just $US16 million a month, said IHS Markit, an analytics firm.

"Their fictitious state has fallen," an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, told state TV.

However, it still occupies an area as big as Belgium, across Iraq and Syria, according to IHS Markit.

IS fighters blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as US-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction. Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba ("The Hunchback") minaret since June 2014.

Much of the mosque and its brickwork minaret was reduced to rubble, said a Reuters TV reporter who went to the site with the elite units that captured it. Only the stump of the Hunchback remained, and a green dome of the mosque supported by a few pillars which resisted the blast, he said.

The mosque grounds were off limits as the insurgents are suspected to have planted booby traps.

Abadi "issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion", by capturing the remaining parts of the Old City, his office said.

The cost of the fighting has been enormous. In addition to military casualties, thousands of civilians are estimated to have been killed.

About 900,000 people, nearly half the prwar population of the northern city, have fled, mostly taking refuge in camps or with relatives and friends, according to aid groups.

Those trapped in the city suffered hunger, deprivation and IS oppression as well as death or injury, and many buildings have been ruined.


http://www.smh.com.au/world/their-fictitious-state-has-fallen-iraq-declares-end-of-islamic-state-caliphate-20170629-gx1m4t.html

What is your point re the mosque?
That it is a war zone?
That the US destroyed it?
That ISIL blew it up...?
When it comes to destruction of heritage and landmarks ISIL have form.