Nimrud and the Islamic State Deliberate Destructions: An Update

The world has witnessed a seemingly unending succession of destructions of cultural heritage in the Middle East since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and the ISIL (so-called Islamic State) seizure of territories in northern Iraq and Syria starting in Jun 2014. Since Aug 2014, The American Schools of Oriental Research Cultural Heritage Initiatives has been conducting monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding on the crisis for the US Department of State, as well as engaging in public outreach initiatives and the planning and implementation of emergency response efforts. The Iraqi military recently liberated the ancient archaeological mounds of Nimrud, but this does not ensure the site's safety. The Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage urgently needs international assistance to safeguard Nimrud and other newly liberated sites, and as ISIL's recent recapture of Palmyra from Assad's forces in Syria has shown, the threats posed by radical non-state actors remain far from neutralized.