Did ISIS Smash Fake Sculptures in Mosul? 

Experts say that some of the sculptures the militants smashed at the Nineveh Museum in Mosul, Iraq, were replicas.

“According to archaeologists, most if not all the statues in the Mosul museum are replicas not originals,” reports Channel 4 News, London. “The reason they crumble so easily is that they’re made of plaster. ‘You can see iron bars inside,” pointed out Mark Altaweel of the Institute of Archaeology at University College, London, as we watched the video together. ‘The originals don’t have iron bars.’”

“According to the British Institute,” adds Channel 4, “the originals were taken to Baghdad for safekeeping. ISIS probably wouldn’t care about the distinction. One false idol is the same as another.”