ISIS just blew up the 842-year-old mosque where it announced its caliphate
NOVANEWS
The al-Nuri mosque in Mosul, Iraq, was a cherished religious and cultural site. ISIS flattened it in seconds.
By Jennifer Williams
In June 2014, at the height of his power, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood in the pulpit of the iconic 12th-century al-Nuri mosque in Mosul, Iraq, and delivered a now-infamous sermon declaring the creation of a new ISIS “caliphate.” It was a hugely symbolic setting, meant to bolster Baghdadi’s claim to be the leader of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims and to broadcast to the world that ISIS was now a major force to be reckoned with.
On Wednesday, ISIS blew up that same mosque as Iraqi forces closed in on the ancient complex as part of their final push to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-biggest city. It was a symbolic move of a very different...