The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been flattened by Islamic State militants, new aerial pictures show.
The St Elijah's Monastery, which is also known as Dair Mar Elia, was knocked down by extremists some time around August and September 2014, analysts believe.
Images provided by DigitalGlobe now show what appear to be grey dust and tyre tracks where previously a 27,000 sq ft building had stood for 1,400 years in Nineveh Governate, just south of Mosul.
It is the latest casualty of the terror group's apparent campaign to destroy monuments it regards as sacrilegious under its strict interpretation of Islamic doctrines.
Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, said: "Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust. They destroyed it completely".
Iraqi Catholic priest Rev Paul Thabit Habib (39) said he was devastated by what the images showed.
He said: "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land".
"Elijah the prophet must be weeping"
Christians in Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world.
After the monastery became the scene of fighting and vandalism during the 2003 Gulf War, US troops attempted to preserve the site, carrying out a survey and erecting a fence.
US Army reserve Colonel Mary Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009, said: "I would imagine that many people are feeling like, 'What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?'".
Roman Catholic Army chaplain Jeffrey Whorton, who celebrated Mass on the monastery's altar, was grief-stricken at its loss.
He said: "Why we treat each other like this is beyond me. Elijah the prophet must be weeping".
Ancient monuments in the cities of Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra are among other irreplaceable sites destroyed by IS.
Museums and libraries have also been pillaged, books burned and artwork crushed - or stolen and sold.
