Now ISIS tears down the Cross

The latest photos show the militants vandalising churches in Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian empire.

Pictured in civilian clothing, the ISIS thugs are seen overturning statues, destroying religious icons and replacing Christian crosses with the chilling ISIS banner.

The disturbing images - provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) - are the latest evidence of ISIS trying to cleanse its caliphate of its Christian heritage.

ISIS claim ancient relics promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law.  

MEMRI director Steven Stalinsky said: 'They don't care what it's called; they are just following their ideology and that means getting rid of churches and minorities. It is the Islamic State, and there's no room for anyone else.

'This has been going on for some time, a systematic campaign to rid the region of any vestiges of Christianity.' 

In February, the terrorist organisation decapitated 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on the shores of Libya and then kidnapped more than 220 Assyrian Christians when militants swept into about 12 villages. 

Thousands of other Iraqi Christians have fled their homes in fear and are having to find temporary accommodation in the surrounding region.  

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's top diplomat at the UN in Geneva, said yesterday the jihadists were committing 'genocide' and must be stopped. 

The Vatican traditionally opposes military intervention in the region. 

ISIS currently controls a swath of land slightly larger than the UK, from Aleppo to central Iraq.   

The fanatics have caused outrage by destroying several ancient relics and sites in Iraq recently, as well as books and rare manuscripts.  

Earlier this month, ISIS went on a rampage in the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, destroying the 3,000 year-old winged statues placed at the gates of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal. 

They also bulldozed 2,000-year-old Hatra - another UNESCO World Heritage site.  

In recent weeks, ISIS have also set off bombs around Mosul Central Library, destroying as many as 10,000 priceless and irreplaceable books and manuscripts. 

(dailymail.co.uk)