Welcome to the ISIS hotel

ISIS headed back to Kobani

By Craig C. White

Here is something that you don’t hear every day. ISIS has opened a five star resort hotel in the northern Iraq city of Mosul. When ISIS invaded Mosul last summer they ordered every hotel to close. Lately they have taken control of the Nineveh International Hotel and reopened it after doing some ISIS friendly remodeling. ISIS has removed all ornamentation from the building and raised the black ISIS flag overhead. The hotel will cater to high ranking ISIS officers and dignitaries.

The Nineveh International Hotel overlooks the Tigris River directly across from the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh. Nineveh was destroyed by a flood in 612 BC. The Mosul dam sits a few miles upstream from downtown Mosul. The dam is unstable. According to the Army Corps of Engineers the Mosul dam is the most dangerous dam in the world. So there is a real threat that Mosul could be destroyed by a flood just as ancient Nineveh was. According to flood studies the Nineveh International Hotel on the west side of the Tigris River is in the absolute worst location. If the Mosul dam suffers a catastrophic failure then the hotel could be hit by a seventy five foot high wave of water.

It gets more interesting. The bible may actually foretell the flooding of Mosul! The book of the Prophet Nahum is all about the flooding and plundering of ancient Nineveh. Nahum says that God will destroy the place where Nineveh sat with a flood of water. So Nahum may also describe the flooding of modern Mosul.

The book of Nahum chronicles the Ancient Assyrians as they were gathered together in a palace in Nineveh celebrating their great exploits. The Assyrians may have been recounting their conquest of the Egyptian city of Thebes when the flood hit in 612 BC. I wonder if ISIS will be gathered together at the Nineveh International Hotel remembering some city that they have conquered when the Mosul dam breaks? It’s funny that you should bring that up.

Over the past year there has been an ongoing struggle for control over the northern Syrian city of Kobani. Kobani is a Kurdish city and is a strategic spot for ISIS to control. Kobani borders Turkey and would allow easy entrance of ISIS rebels into Syria. At one point ISIS had gained almost complete control of the city. Turkey stepped in and allowed Turkish Kurdish Peshmerga troops to enter Kobani from Turkey. The Kurdish Peshmerga troops forced ISIS out of Kobani. The city was left in complete ruins. Almost none of the 50,000 residents remain.

Turkey allowed the Turkish Kurds into Kobani, Syria for their own purposes. The Kurds cleared a path to an Ottoman Empire shrine. Turkey then entered Syria through Kobani in order to retrieve the remains of Suleyman Shah the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. If ISIS returns to retake Kobani it is doubtful that Turkey will allow the Kurds to enter Syria again.

Now the Kurdish Peshmerga troops have left Kobani. Only a small force of Kurdish militia remains. Well guess what? ISIS is on the march again to capture Kobani. ISIS has already taken several small towns south of Kobani and is fighting their way northwards towards the city.

I wonder if ISIS will be gathered together at the Nineveh International Hotel celebrating their conquest of Kobani when the city of Mosul floods?