Historic Statues Removed from the National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable artifacts and additional items have been removed from Syria's National Museum in the capital, officials say.
The burglary was discovered on the start of the week, when staff apparently found that one of the museum's doors had been broken from the inside.
The half-dozen missing statues were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, a source told the Associated Press.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had opened an investigation to identify the "circumstances surrounding the loss of a collection of artifacts", and that actions had been enacted to strengthen protection and surveillance.
The director of internal security in Damascus province, General Osama Atkeh, was quoted by the official media as declaring that law enforcement were probing the theft, which he said had focused on several "archaeological statues and valuable objects".
He added that museum protectors at the museum and other individuals were being interviewed.
The Damascus Museum, which was founded in 1919, holds the most important archaeological collection in the country.
It includes ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from historical site, where proof of the oldest known complete alphabet was uncovered; early centuries CE ancient art from the ancient city, a significant historical locations of the classical era; and a 3rd Century AD Jewish temple that was constructed at an ancient location.
The institution was compelled to shut in the early 2010s, a year after the beginning of the destructive conflict. The majority of the collection was evacuated and stored at secret locations to protect them.
It reopened partially in recent years and completely reopened in early this year, one month after insurgents overthrew Syria's former leader.
Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or significantly impacted during the civil war.
The IS organization destroyed several temples and additional edifices at the ancient city, asserting that they were un-Islamic. The cultural organization denounced the destruction as a atrocity.
Countless artefacts were also destroyed or stolen from archaeological sites and collections.
