Valuable Statues Taken from Syria's National Museum Located in Damascus
Historic statues and additional items have been stolen from the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, officials say.
The burglary was noticed on the start of the week, when staff allegedly found that one of the museum's doors had been forced from the interior.
The six stolen statues were marble creations and traced back to the Roman period, a source informed the news agency.
Cultural heritage officials said it had launched a probe to establish the "events surrounding the loss of a number of items", and that actions had been taken to strengthen safeguarding and monitoring systems.
The chief of domestic security in the capital area, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that authorities were probing the theft, which he said had targeted several "historical artifacts and rare collectibles".
He noted that museum protectors at the museum and other persons were being questioned.
The cultural institution, which was founded in the early twentieth century, holds the primary historical artifacts in Syria.
It contains ancient inscribed tablets tracing back to the ancient era from an ancient city, where indications of the oldest known linguistic system was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD ancient art from Palmyra, a significant cultural centres of the historical period; and a third century Jewish temple that was constructed at Dura Europos.
The facility was compelled to shut in 2012, a year after the beginning of the internal strife. A large portion of the artifacts was evacuated and kept at secure places to protect them.
It began limited operations in 2018 and returned to normal in early this year, one month after rebel forces deposed Syria's former leader.
Each of the six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or partially destroyed during the civil war.
The militant faction blew up several ancient buildings and historical sites at the archaeological site, asserting that they were un-Islamic. International authorities censured the demolition as a war crime.
Many cultural items were also lost or taken from historical locations and museums.
