“The sites look like the surface of the moon… They’re coming in with bulldozers and actually removing entire chunks of archaeological mounds,” he said. “They take the antiquities out and use the soil as fertilizer or fill for new constructions.”

He said the destruction benefits ISIS — which makes money from selling licenses, imposing taxes and taking a cut of looting profits. The tax — normally of around 20 percent — is based on Islamic jurisprudence, which deems treasures found in the ground and spoils of war to be taxable items, Danti explained.