Is ISIS' Destruction of Ancient Artifacts in Mosul a Form of Ethnic Cleansing?

"Democracy Now!" airs weekdays at 9 a.m. PT on KCET.

Video has surfaced showing militants from the Islamic State destroying ancient artifacts at a museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Men are seen toppling statues and using sledgehammers and drills to smash the relics.

According to the Guardian, one of the statues destroyed was a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 9th century B.C. The Islamic State has also reportedly damaged the Mosul public library, which housed more than 8,000 rare books and manuscripts.

On Thursday, UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, called for the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on protecting Iraq's cultural heritage. "I condemn this as a deliberate attack against Iraq's millennial history and culture, and as an inflammatory incitement to violence and hatred," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

"Democracy Now!" speaks to Zainab Bahrani, professor of Near Eastern and East Mediterranean art and archaeology at Columbia University. She has worked extensively in Iraq, including periods as senior adviser to Iraq's Ministry of Culture and a UNESCO consultant.