Historic Statues Removed from the National Museum in Damascus
Historic sculptures and other artefacts have been taken from the National Museum of Syria in the capital, authorities report.
The robbery was found on the start of the week, when staff allegedly found that a doorway had been damaged from the interior.
The half-dozen stolen sculptures were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, one official told the Associated Press.
Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had launched a probe to establish the "details surrounding the loss of a group of items", and that actions had been taken to strengthen safeguarding and surveillance.
The chief of national security in Damascus province, General Osama Atkeh, was quoted by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that law enforcement were probing the robbery, which he said had focused on several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".
He continued that security personnel at the institution and other persons were being questioned.
The National Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, contains the significant cultural treasures in Syria.
It contains ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from an ancient city, where proof of the most ancient complete alphabet was found; Greco-Roman period classical statues from the ancient city, among the foremost cultural centres of the classical era; and a ancient Jewish temple that was established at Dura Europos.
The facility was forced to close in the early 2010s, one year after the outbreak of the internal strife. A large portion of the artifacts was evacuated and stored at secret locations to safeguard them.
It began limited operations in recent years and returned to normal in January 2025, a month after insurgents removed Syria's former leader.
Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were harmed or partly ruined during the internal struggle.
The IS organization destroyed multiple ancient buildings and additional edifices at Palmyra, asserting that they were un-Islamic. International authorities censured the demolition as a war crime.
Countless cultural items were also destroyed or looted from archaeological sites and cultural institutions.
