UNESCO approves Iraqi bill to rehabilitate war-torn Mosul facilities
An Iraqi family passes through a residential area devastated by the anti-Islamic State war
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – UNESCO has approved an Iraqi bill to revive educational, cultural and archaeological sites in Mosul city, the Iraqi ambassador to UNESCO was quoted as saying Tuesday.
“The draft resolution came upon an initiative by UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay following a meeting with members of the Arab Group at UNESCO to revive Mosul facilities, which were destroyed by Islamic State militants during their capture of the city,” Ambassador Mahmoud al-Mullakhalaf told IKH News website.
The Iraqi diplomat stressed that several member states, including Japan, Italy, the European Union, Sweden, Spain and the UAE, expressed their readiness to contribute to the reconstruction of relics in Iraq.
Several archaeological sites in Iraq suffered grievous damage at the hands of the Islamic State group, which declared a caliphate in the summer of 2014 from Mosul city.
After capturing the second largest city of Mosul, the IS group released a series of videos, showing its members smashing artifacts at Mosul Museum and blowing up parts of the site of the Assyrian capital of Nimrud.
Several activists, officials and historians condemned IS at the time for the destruction of the ancient Assyrian archaeological sites, while UNESCO described the act as a war crime.