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Deliberate destruction and theft of cultural heritage has been conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS - Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or IS - Islamic State) since 2014 in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. The destruction targets various places of worship under ISIL control and ancient historical artifacts. In Iraq, between the fall of Mosul in June 2014 and February 2015, ISIL has plundered and destroyed at least 28 historical religious buildings. The valuable items from some buildings were looted in order to smuggle and sell them to finance ISIL activities.〔 ISIL uses a unit called the ''Kata'ib Taswiyya'' (settlement battalions), tasked with selecting targets for demolition. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova branded the ISIL activities in this respect as "a form of cultural cleansing"〔 and launched the Unite4Heritage campaign to protect heritage sites threatened by extremists. Although Libya, Syria and Iraq ratified the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict in 1957, 1958 and 1967 respectively, it has not been effectively enforced. ==Motivation== ISIL justifies the destruction of cultural heritage sites with its extreme following of Salafi ideology which places great importance on establishing tawhid (monotheism), and eliminating shirk (polytheism). While it is often assumed that the group's actions are mindless acts of vandalism, there is an ideological underpinning to the destruction. ISIL views its actions in sites like Palmyra and Nimrud as being in accordance with Islamic tradition.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Don't Be Surprised by ISIS Destroying History )〕 Beyond the ideological aspects of the destruction, there are other, more practical, reasons behind ISIL's destruction of historic sites. Grabbing the world's attention is easily done through the destruction of such sites, particularly given the extensive media coverage and international condemnation that comes afterwards. Destroying historic ruins also allows ISIL to wipe the slate clean and to start afresh, leaving no traces of any previous culture or civilisation and providing an ideal platform for the group to establish its own identity and leave its mark on history. Despite the images showing extreme destruction, ISIL has also been making use of the antiquities to finance their activities.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=How an arrest in Iraq revealed Isis's $2bn jihadist network )〕 Despite the UN's ban on the trade of artifacts looted from Syria since 2011,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=U.N. Security Council ups pressure on Islamic State financing )〕 the group has been smuggling these artifacts out of the Middle East and on to the underground antique markets of Europe and North America.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Why Does ISIS Destroy Historic Sites? )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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