Arab League: ISIS destruction of Iraqi heritage ‘odious crime’

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi denounced Friday the destruction of priceless artefacts by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in Iraq as an “odious crime” against cultural heritage.

“This barbaric attack against the cultural heritage of the Iraqi people is one of the most odious crimes committed in our day and age against the heritage of humanity,” Arabi said in a statement.

READ ALSO: UNESCO demands emergency UNSC meet over Iraq heritage destruction

A video released by the militants shows men smashing ancient Assyrian statues and other priceless artefacts from the main museum and an archaeological site in the northern city of Mosul.

ALSO READ: Video: ISIS destroys centuries old Iraqi artifacts

ISIS has controlled Iraq’s second city since June, when it seized swathes of Syria and imposed a brutal interpretation of Islam.

Since Monday, it has also captured 220 Assyrian Christians in Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Arabi, who heads the 22-member Cairo-based organization, condemned “abductions and torture committed by Daesh against the Assyrian community,” using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.