Ed West Ed West

For modern-day Assyrians their present is under attack from Isis, as is their past

The historian Tom Holland tweeted this morning: ‘What ‪#ISIS are doing to the people & culture of ‪#Assyria is worthy of the Nazis. None of us can say we didn’t know.’

He linked to a Washington Post article about how the Islamist group had kidnapped at least 200 Assyrian Christians from their homes in north-east Syria, and may well be preparing to murder them. In another tweet he showed a video by Assyriology professor Simo Parpola on the history of the ancient Assyrians, from whom today’s Assyrians claim descent, the Finnish academic warning that their history and culture is being deliberately destroyed.

On top of the kidnappings, there are now reports that Isis have bulldozed the ancient city of Nimrod.

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