New satellite images confirmed that St. Elijah’s monastery, Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery, was destroyed by the Islamic State terror group.
Prior to its destruction, the monastery had 26 rooms, including a sanctuary and chapel, but comparative images prove there is nothing left, according to The Associated Press.
“Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of grey-white dust. They destroyed it completely,” said imagery analyst Stephen Wood, chief executive of Allsource Analysis, which reviewed the images.
St. Elijah’s monastery was a place of worship for 1,400 years for Christians in Mosul, Iraq.