HATRA: Iraqi pro-government forces said on Wednesday they had seized the Unesco-listed ancient site of Hatra from the militant Islamic State group, the latest archaeological jewel to be wrested from the jihadists’ grip.

Hashed al-Shaabi (Po­pular Mobilisation) par­­am­ilitary forces fighting IS around Iraq’s second city Mosul said they had “liberated the ancient city of Hatra after fierce clashes with the enemy”.

Lying 120kms south-west of Mosul, the jihadists’ last urban Iraqi stronghold, Hatra is one of a string of archaeological sites recaptured from IS in recent months.

Known as Al Hadhr in Arabic, it was established in the third or second century BC and became a religious and trading centre under the Parthian empire. Its imposing fortifications helped it withstand sieges by the forces of two Roman emperors. Although Hatra finally succumbed to Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid dynasty, it was well-preserved over the centuries that followed.

But after IS jihadists seized swathes of Iraq and Syria in a lightning 2014 offensive, they vandalised sculptures there as part of a campaign of destruction against arch­aeological sites they had captured.

The full extent of the damage to Hatra remains unclear.

IS has lost much of the territory it once controlled amid twin offensives in Syria and Iraq, including several ancient sites.

In November, less than a month into a vast operation to oust the jihadists from Mosul, Iraq said it had recaptured Nimrud, a jewel of the Assyrian empire founded in the 13th century BC.

Last month Syrian regime forces recaptured the famed desert city of Palmyra from the jihadists, who had destroyed priceless objects there too.

Also in March, Iraqi security forces recaptured Mosul’s museum, where IS militants infamously fil­med themselves smashing priceless artefacts.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, an umbrella group for militias that mobilised to fight IS, have focused their efforts on a front south-west of Mosul, aiming to seize the town of Tal Afar as well as desert areas stretching to the border with Syria.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2017