Confirmation in via @Eleanor_Robson and others in Baghdad, this militant destruction is inside the Mosul Museum. https://t.co/7pf3DnQz9d
— Ergo Sum (@sauterne) February 26, 2015@News_Executive, who shared the images in the previous post is one of the more reliable sources of news on Twitter - he was very useful when I was stuck in Paris trying to work out what was going on, for example - and alas his Nineveh aka Mosul Museum photos appear to be authentic.
For those worried about Damascus Museum, my information is that it is still mostly crated up in a location that is nobody's business but safe enough.
Jobar Synagogue is still a mess, but the amazing anti-Assad and also anti-ISIS guys there have managed to save some more material. I understand that a Sefardi "museum" in American is rumoured to be offering bounties for Syrian Judaica, but don't worry that will get 'dealt with' through the correct channels.
So ISIS = fundamentalists destroying cultural property. Some fanatics paying to smuggle Jewish cultural property. And I guess I'll have to do an update on the Hobby Lobby Christian Fundamentalist crowd "saving" stuff by buying loot and dissolving Ptolemaic mummies next.
For those interested in looting etc, @sauterne is running an amazing course in Italy on the subject which can be taken in full or audited. Email her (or me, I can 'forward') for more info.