Looting and Destruction in Syria and Iraq (and ASOR)

On September 29, Trevor Noah had a segment on the Daily Show about the theft and resale of important cultural artifacts stolen in Syria and Iraq. The sale of these artifacts brings in roughly $100M/yr to ISIL to run its operations. This corroborates a figure given by Michael D. Danti in a talk at PennSt on September 16, 2015.

The cultural destruction of Syria and Iraq is not limited to the pre-Islamic past, although that is all CNN et al. are willing to report. Professor Danti mentioned that the destruction of pre-Islamic buildings or statues is strategic: it is a message addressed to the west. This destruction represents only a small portion of the actual destruction inflicted by ISIL on world heritage sites. Mosques or any Islamic site too closely associated with forms of Islam deemed sacrilegious are systematically leveled. For instance, on August 10, ISIL reported the destruction of Sufi shrines and graves in Fallujah.

Two points.
1) The destruction of sites in Iraq and Syria is not limited to western heritage sites. In fact it does not represent much in comparison to other sites.
2) The sale of antiquities on the Black Market is a very real source of income for this terror group.

You can find reports at:
http://www.asor-syrianheritage.org/