CWN - An ancient Chaldean Catholic monastery in Mosul, Iraq, has been damaged but not destroyed by the Islamic State, the Fides news service reports.

The façade of the monastery of St. George has been demolished, and crosses removed from the dome. The cemetery adjacent to the monastery has been desecrated, with headstones destroyed. But the 10th-century building remains largely intact, Fides reports.

Since seizing Mosul, Islamic militants have used the monastery as a prison, housing their opponents and local officials of the government they ousted.