Isis members are terrorists, but they are far from ignorant. The systematic, propaganda-driven destruction of the statues at Nineveh and Nimrud and the remains of Ashurbanipal II's palace near Mosul, in Iraq, would have served as a cover for far larger thefts of valuable archaeological material to be sold on the black market for staggering sums.

This was reported this morning to the Associated Press by Qais Hussein Rashid, head of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, according to whom the winged bulls drilled with pneumatic hammers, the Assyrian statues torn from their plinths and the entire 3,000-year-old palace razed to the ground by the Caliphate's bulldozers were nothing more than diversions to draw attention away from the militants' true objective: small, precious artefacts intended to continue funding terrorist activities.

Foto: © Corriere.it

So much for erasing the remnants of an infidel religion. The "false gods" are perfectly acceptable when there is money to be made. Still according to Rashid, after occupying the site, Isis allegedly excavated in several areas of the as-yet-uninvestigated archaeological zone, recovered artefacts such as statuettes and jewellery, hid them while awaiting resale for millions of dollars, and then filmed the destruction of the site for propaganda purposes, as a cover.

It should be recalled that Nimrud was, in 1989, the site of Iraq's most important discovery, with the unearthing of the treasure from a royal tomb rich in gold and jewels.

Foto: © Getty Images

The Caliphate supporters' tomb-raiding activity is said to have begun several days before the "propaganda" filming, as confirmed by satellite photographs that reportedly documented the looting. There are no reliable estimates of the total potential proceeds from the operation, but government officials suggest that the pieces, once placed on the black market, could be worth millions of dollars.

This is not the first time Iraqi sites have been looted: it also happened in 2003 at the archaeological museum, after the fall of Saddam, and at sites in the south of the country. According to American intelligence services, statuettes and inscribed tablets were used at the time to finance Al Qaeda. But those were sporadic acts of looting; today the activity is said to be far more systematic, extending to Syrian sites as well. The sale of antiquities is believed to be one of Isis's main sources of funding, alongside oil revenues and kidnapping ransoms.

According to experts, the pieces are first resold in Turkey, then pass through Bulgaria and the Balkan region before reaching western Europe, ready to be purchased by wealthy collectors and art lovers who have no concern for whether the sale of the artefacts is legal or not.

Foto: © Getty Images

Iraq has sent the International Council of Museums, the United Nations and Interpol lists of artefacts that may have been stolen (rather than destroyed) from the Mosul museum. The identification of works that have never been seen or catalogued is considerably more difficult.

Meanwhile, in Cairo, Egypt, a conference entitled "Cultural property at risk" is under way, calling on the international community to take appropriate countermeasures.