Why did this happen? Did someone at the monastery draw Muhammad? Did some Iraqi cleric provoke the poor dears, poking them in the eye in some way, and failing to show proper respect for Islam? As far as Western Christian leaders are concerned, the Christians of Iraq have no one but themselves to blame for this sort of thing. “Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled,” said Iraq-based Catholic priest Rev Paul Thabit Habib. “We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.” If only the Christians had devoted themselves more assiduously to “dialogue”! Then none of this would have happened!

“Isis razes to ground the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, satellite images show,” by Adam Withnall, Independent, January 20, 2016 (thanks to Lookmann):