To the ignorant:
1. Sennacherib died long before 657 BC.
2. Drought had little to nothing to do with the fall of the Assyrian Empire. The Empire was doomed by Nabopolassar’s Chaldean revolts in Akkad and an usurper in Nineveh. Nadav Na’aman describes this thoroughly.
3. Crowding was always a feature of Assyrian life; Assyria was a very urbanized country since at least the 9th century BC, and probably long before.
Stay classy, Haaretz.
Against Jebel al-Lawz 
Similar reports by UC San Diego & Science Daily don’t really help explain the connection between Sennacherib, the letter writer, & the date of the letter. The original journal article is online. It was written to Assurbanipal, but the researchers blame the drought on Sennacherib’s “hydraulic infrastructure“.
Thanks for pointing out it was online free, G.M. I thought Springer typically has a paywall.
Assyria may have fallen long time ago but assyrians til today are living:). We are up to 3-4 million around the world (mist living in the diaspora). The Assyrians – A people without rights:
Click to access IAIGO-2014–The-Assyrians-A-People-Without-Rights–English.pdf
Who are the Assyrians and what are the Nineveh Plains:
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/09/19/who-are-the-assyrians-and-what-are-the-nineveh-plains/
Documentary: Take a rare glimpse into the lives of the Assyrians after ISIS attacks in Iraq:
Documentary: Take a rare glimpse into the lives of the Assyrians after ISIS attacks in Iraq: