wondering if there are any experts on the region's history that can chime in on the destruction ISIS is doing. They've destroyed a museum in Mosul and now I'm hearing bulldozed an entire ancient city? I know civilization pretty much started over there. just how bad is it?
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There are some posts worth checking out on the Conflict Antiquities blog. Here he goes through the video and talks about what were original and what were replicas. That site also discusses the antiquities trade and tries to figure out how ISIS is using that.
This is a good article that tries to figure out all the looting that has gone on since the start of the Syrian civil war. ISIS isn't the only group destroying sites.
Those links will show you that there are a number of things happening.
There is the destruction that is happening because of the bombing, shooting, etc. There is the destruction in setting up bases and fortifications. There is the looting of artifacts in order to sell them on the black market. Then, there is the destruction of artifacts for ideological/propaganda purposes by ISIS.
In short, it's bad and it's not confined to ISIS. We won't know the full extent of the damage until some time after this conflict is over.
I'm sure there are others more qualified to discuss this than me. I mostly just wanted to point you in the direction of some resources that may be helpful. But I suppose I should make some comment about ISIS specifically. I'm really not sure what to say about what ISIS is doing to the cultural heritage of Syria and Iraq. Of course, it is terrible. But my mind is not made up. Should I be more outraged about them than with what other actors in the conflict are doing? How should I compare what ISIS did in their video to the destruction caused by bombs on the Aleppo citadel? Should I just say that all of it is just bad? Should I try to place these things on some sliding scale of horribleness? What reports can be believed? Should it matter that the motivations of ISIS are harder for me to understand than those of others in this war? Part of me wonders what Ashurnasirpal II would think about all of this? Is what is happening in Syria and Iraq just part of what happens throughout history?
But this war mostly just makes me sad. Sad for the people caught up in it. Sad for the world.
Edit: I did the links wrong.