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Penn Museum staff noted that it is important to consider the damage that is being done to cultural heritage sites in the Middle East today.

Responding in part to ongoing attacks in Syria and Iraq, the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology opened a new exhibition on April 8 that explores the cultural heritage of the region and Penns role in ensuring its preservation.

Titled Cultures in the Crossfire: Stories from Syria and Iraq, the exhibit will run through Nov. 26, 2018, and features 50 artifacts from the museums collections as well as Arabic manuscripts, music and documentary film clips.

The exhibit also showcases contemporary art a first for the museum. Artwork from contemporary Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj, whose work focuses on images from his homeland, is featured alongside ancient artifacts.

Kourbajs contributions include Strike i, ii, and iii, a series of video clips of burning matchsticks and Seed, an installation incorporating a plush toy caught in a hand grinder.

Speaking at the museum on April 7, the artist said that despite the destruction of cities and illegal trade of artifacts in the Middle East, there is still much to be done to preserve the artifacts that remain.

Director of Research and Programs at the Penn Cultural Heritage Center Brian Daniels agreed, adding that the center coordinates with 17 international organizations to preserve Syrian and Iraqi culture.

You cant take yourself seriously as engaged in cultural heritage issues if youre not responding in some way to the current crisis in Syria and Iraq, he said.

Daniels emphasized that while Penn experts are not currently working on the ground in the Middle East, they are coordinating with refugee communities in other ways, such as the preservation of cultural sites.

Daniels co-directs the centers Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria and Iraq Project, which supports professionals and activists in conflict areas working to protect cultural heritage.

Were coordinating through the refugee and diaspora community that has sprung up, and academics who left the country, Daniels said.

Syrian-born archaeologist Salam Al Kuntar, who serves as another co-director for SHOSI, is one of these academics.

She has been involved in the centers cultural preservation efforts since 2013 and played a large role in creating this exhibition.

We are more focused on areas that dont really get help from international organizations, she said. While doctors and teachers may have more obvious roles to play in helping those affected by conflict in Syria and Iraq, archaeologists also play a role, she added.

Its symbolic, she said. This is what we know and do best.

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Modern art sits alongside ancient artifacts in Penn Museum's exhibit on Syria and Iraq - The Daily Pennsylvanian

the Hellenistic Temple of Mrn in Hatra - AFP

(Vatican Radio) This Holy Week in Iraq, Christians and Muslims will walk for 140 km through the Nineveh Plain in the name of peace and the end of violence in a once mostly Christian inhabited area.

The peace march is supported by the Chaldean Patriarchate, which declared 2017 as the Year of Peace.

The march started in Ankawa, a suburb of Erbil city in northern Iraq, after participants took part in Palm Sunday Mass. The march will continue through Holy Week and will end in Qaradosh, close to the ruins of the Assyrian cities of Nimrud and Nineveh, about 32km from the city of Mosul.

The Nineveh Plain is filled with ancient, religious sites. When the area was captured by so-called Islamic State terrorists in the summer of 2014, historic architecture and archeological remains, including the UNESCO world heritage site Hatra, were destroyed. Part of the territory was liberated in November 2016 by Iraqi forces. However, many towns and villages occupied by Christians were abandoned.

An estimated 100 people from Iraqi and other countries are expected to walk through these historic lands.

During the week-long journey, participants will pray for the rebirth of these abandoned towns as well as for peace and for the will to overcome all forms of violence.

The march aims to sow the seeds for a new the beginning of healing for a population torn apart by conflict and violence.

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Christian and Muslims in Iraq march together for peace - Vatican Radio

FlaglerLive | April 9, 2017

An F/A-18C Hornet lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Arabian Gulf in late March. (Christopher Gaines)

By Peter Certo

In a desolated patch of Mosul, Iraq, people are still digging through the rubble. Rescuers wear masks to cover the stench, while anxious family members grow desperate about missing loved ones.

The full story of what happened in the al-Jidideh neighborhood isnt yet clear, but the toll is unmistakable. A New York Times journalist reported stumbling across charred human limbs, still covered in clothing, while a man stood nearby holding a sign with 27 names extended family members either missing or dead.

All told, 200 or more civilians may be dead there following a U.S. airstrike on the densely populated neighborhood. The military has acknowledged the strike, but says its still investigating the deaths. If the allegations are true, this was by far our deadliest attack on innocents in decades.

The carnage comes amid a push by the U.S. and its Iraqi allies to reclaim Mosul, Iraqs second most populous city, from the Islamic State (or ISIS). Thats making life terrifying for the citys residents, whove endured years of depredations from ISIS only to fall under U.S. bombs and to face possible human rights abuses from Iraqi soldiers they dont trust. Now it feels like the coalition is killing more people than ISIS, one resident told the UKs Telegraph newspaper.

Unfortunately, that may not be so far from the truth. AirWars, which tracks civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria, counted over 1,300 reports of civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes in March alone. Thats about triple the count from February.

In fact, AirWars estimates, more U.S. coalition strikes are now causing civilian casualties than strikes by Russia, which was loudly (and appropriately) accused of war crimes for its bombing of Aleppo, Syria last year.

Is this the simple result of the fight heating up in Mosul? Not quite.

In the same month, at least 30 civilians were reported killed by a U.S. airstrike outside Raqqa, Syria where the real battle with ISIS hasnt even begun yet and up to 50 more may have died when the U.S. bombed a mosque in Aleppo.

Instead, some observers suspect the Trump administration is relaxing Obama-era rules designed to limit civilian casualties in war zones. They deny this, but the Times reports that field commanders appear to be exercising more latitude to launch strikes in civilian-heavy areas than before.

During the campaign, Trump himself famously promised to bomb the s out of ISIS. That sounds extreme, and it is.

But its only a few steps beyond the Obama administrations approach of gradually expanding our air wars outside the public eye. Trumps just taking it to another level by putting virtually all key foreign policy decisions in military hands, while gutting resources for diplomacy and humanitarian aid.

The human costs of this will be enormous. The political costs will be, too.

The U.S. has been bombing the s out of Iraq for decades now, which has consistently created more terrorists than its killed. Extremists are flourishing in Iraq. The same cant be said for the civilians now burying their dead in Mosul.

Of course, ISIS is guilty of its own innumerable atrocities. But the war-torn sectarian politics that gave rise to the group are a direct result of this military-first foreign policy. Theres simply no reason to believe that reducing Iraqs cities to rubble will give way to less extremism in their ashes.

Iraqis will still have to wrest their country back from ISIS. But if its ever going to get back on its feet, what the country truly needs is a political solution. Thats going to require a surge of aid, diplomacy, and honest brokering all of which are in short supply now.

Peter Certo is the editorial manager of the Institute for Policy Studies and the editor of OtherWords.org.

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Trump Steps Up Bombing in Iraq, Civilians Die - FlaglerLive.com

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President Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner visited Iraq Monday at the request of Gen. James Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kushner visited Iraq in his typical preppy garb and photos of him looking out of place in the wartorn country of Iraq were ridiculed Saturday on Twitter as #KushnerAtWar trended on the social media site.

QAYYARAH WEST, IRAQ APRIL 04: In this handout provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump meets with Service Members at a forward operating base near Qayyarah West in Iraq, April 4, 2017. (Photo by Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD via Getty Images)

QAYYARAH WEST, IRAQ APRIL 04: In this handout provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump, meets with service members at a forward operating base near Qayyarah West in Iraq, April 4, 2017. (Photo by Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD via Getty Images)

Kushner, who has no foreign policy or military experience, has been tasked with several important issues for the Trump administration such as Middle East peace and liaison to both China and Mexico. White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks told CNNthat the goal of Kushners visit to Iraq was to get an update on anti-ISIS efforts from U.S. andIraqi officials.

The Trump son-in-law also reportedlypushed the Trump administration to strike Syria on Thursday, representing a win for the lifelong Democrat over White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

ERBIL, IRAQ APRIL 04: In this handout provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tom Bossert, the presidents homeland security advisor, and Douglas A. Silliman, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commander, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, meet with the President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzan near Erbil, Iraq, April 4, 2017. (Photo by Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD via Getty Images)

QAYYARAH WEST, IRAQ APRIL 04: In this handout provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump, poses for a photograph with military officials and service members at a forward operating base near Qayyarah West in Iraq, April 4, 2017. (Photo by Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD via Getty Images)

QAYYARAH WEST, IRAQ APRIL 04: In this handout provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump walks with military officials and service members at a forward operating base near Qayyarah West in Iraq, April 4, 2017. (Photo by Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD via Getty Images)

QAYYARAH WEST, IRAQ APRIL 04: In this handout provided by the Department of Defense (DoD), Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump meets with Service Members at a forward operating base near Qayyarah West in Iraq, April 4, 2017. (Photo by Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD via Getty Images)

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Photos Of Jared Kushner In Iraq Get Ridiculed Online - Daily Caller

Gunfire, no food, no water. Iraq is the most dangerous place. I will never go back, said Sathish in broken English when asked about his experience in Erbil, Iraq.

Sathish is among the 33 migrant workers who were rescued from Iraq earlier this week by efforts made by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the NRI cell of Telangana. Most of these men belonged to Telangana. None of the people rescued were highly qualified. Most of them could hardly speak any language other than Telugu.

These men were duped by employment agents who promised them attractive jobs in Iraq in exchange for a few thousand to Rs 1 lakh remuneration. Only after they reached Iraq did they realise that there were no employers waiting for them. Since their visa was valid only for 15 days, they were left to fend for themselves.

Kalyan, another person who was rescued, said, I am safe and alive. That is all that matters now. I went there to improve my future prospects, but we did not even have food to eat. It was very dangerous and I was scared enough to feel that I might die. All we could arrange to eat was bread. On some days, we could not buy bread as we had no money.

Sathish told The Sunday Guardian, I could hear the sound of gunfire. I did not know there was a war going on there. We had to sleep on empty stomach in hiding. We faced a lot of challenges, but we finally made it back home.

Sources said that some of the people rescued were exposed to conflict areas and had to live in confinement. But who captured them or where they were detained could not be known. Not all of them were taken to areas where the on-going civil war has larger effects. But almost all of them had no means of livelihood and had to rely on odd-jobs to arrange for their food and drinking water.

Some of the people rescued were exposed to conflict areas and had to live in confinement. But who captured them or where they were detained could not be known.

Not all of them were taken to areas where the on-going civil war has larger effects. But almost all of them had no means of livelihood and had to rely on odd-jobs to arrange for food and drinking water.

E. Chitti Babu, section officer at the NRI cell, Telangana, said, Some of them were stranded for over two years. The workers had been asking for help for the past five months. The rescue was initiated once the Indian authorities intervened after Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj directed the Indian embassy to look into the matter.

A survivor said, We did any work we could find to collect enough money to buy food. We sold empty bottles to earn money and looked through garbage for edible leftovers.

Earlier in 2015, 11 nurses from Kerala were rescued from Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

In 2014, the Iraqi insurgency escalated into a civil war with the conquest of Mosul and Tikrit and major areas in northern Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). The most recent update on the ongoing conflict comprises the battle of Mosul that started in 2016 and has continued through February and March between Iraqi government forces with allied militias, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and international forces to retake the city of Mosul from the ISIL.

Mosul is only 95km from Erbil, capital of the autonomous state of Kurdistan, which also serves as the defacto capital for all western political and military movements since the actual capital, Baghdad, is currently unstable and unsafe. An estimated 400,000 civilians are still trapped in the conflict areas. However, with strong checkpoints, Erbil is largely considered safe.

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Gunfire, no food, say survivors from Iraq - The Sunday Guardian