ISIS Destroys Iraq’s Oldest Christian Monastery

ISIS has completely destroyed St. Elijah's Monastery, Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, the Associated Press confirmed via satellite images.

In the images, which were taken in 2014 but requested by the AP this month, the monastery's walls appear to have been "pulverized," imagery analyst Stephen Wood stated. Wood, who is the CEO of Allsource Analysis, believes that the monastery was most likely destroyed sometime from August to September 2014.

"Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust. They destroyed it completely," Wood said.

St. Elijah's Monastery was in existence for 1,400 years and was a sacred place of worship for generations of people who have visited it - most recently for U.S. Troops. Before ISIS, which also goes by the Islamic State and ISIL, completely wiped it out, the Monastary had 26 rooms, which included a chapel and a sanctuary.

Catholic Priest Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, who is currently living in exile in Irbil, Iraq, was shocked to see the images.

He said in Arabic, "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."

"A big part of tangible history has been destroyed," Rev. Manuel Yousif, who attended mass at the Monastery almost 60 years ago, said reported by the New York Times. "These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God."

The reverend is a Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan.

"Unfortunately, there is this systemic destruction of precious sites, not only cultural, but also religious and spiritual. It's very sad and dramatic," the spokesman for the Vatican, Rev. Federico Lombardi, said.

ISIS, which has a history of targeting cultural, religious and historic sites, has destroyed more than 100 locations. The group, which has control over several areas in Iraq and Syria, has also thousands of civilians in these regions.