Experience the Islamic State group's tunnels as you have never seen them before and discover the ancient treasures that survived their plunder. There is a hill in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul called Nabi Yunus. It has been a site of ...See moreExperience the Islamic State group's tunnels as you have never seen them before and discover the ancient treasures that survived their plunder. There is a hill in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul called Nabi Yunus. It has been a site of worship for centuries. A monastery was built there in the early Christian period, then, more than 600 years ago, it was converted into a Muslim shrine to the prophet Jonah. In July 2014 this shrine was blown up by the Islamic State (IS) group. Militants claimed that Nabi Yunus was no longer a place of prayer but of heresy. But the destruction of Nabi Yunus has far from ended the story of this ancient venerated mound. Instead it has raised fascinating questions about what exactly lies beneath the foundations of the mosque. In Spring 2018, BBC Arabic sent a team into the complex of cool, dusty tunnels recently discovered inside the hill. They captured high resolution photos of their findings using a technique called photogrammetry and attempted to untangle some of the mysteries that remain unanswered in the aftermath of the destruction. Written by
Namak Khoshnaw
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