Coalition must defend Iraq heritage sites: minister

The US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) must try to protect archaeological sites being destroyed by the jihadists, Iraq's tourism and antiquities minister said March 8.
      
ISIL smashed priceless artefacts at the Mosul museum, then bulldozed the city of Nimrud, which was founded in the 13th century BC.
      
The jihadists may now have turned their attention to the extremely well preserved fortress city Hatra, which is over 2,000 years old and a UNESCO world heritage site, with the United Nations condemning its reported "destruction."       

"The sky is not in the hands of the Iraqis, the sky is not in our hands. Therefore, the international community must move with the means it has," Adel Fahad al-Shershab told journalists in Baghdad.
      
"We request aerial support," Shershab said.
      
Asked specifically if he wanted coalition strikes to protect archaeological sites, he responded: "What I request from the international community and the international coalition is to carry out air strikes against terrorism wherever it is found."       

The attacks on Iraq's archaeological heritage took place in ISIL-held areas in the northern province of Nineveh, where Iraq does not have security forces that are able to respond on the ground.
      
But targeting militants destroying archaeological sites would be a departure for the coalition, which is carrying out strikes aimed at weakening IS military capabilities in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
      
"The site of Hatra is a site in the desert where it is possible to see any infiltration" from the air, Shershab said of the ancient city, which features a unique blend of eastern and western...