Ancient Statues Taken from Syria's National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable sculptures and cultural objects have been taken from the National Museum of Syria in the capital, officials say.
The robbery was discovered on the start of the week, when museum workers apparently found that an entrance had been broken from the interior.
The multiple stolen pieces were crafted from marble and traced back to the Roman era, an authority stated to the news agency.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had opened an investigation to identify the "details surrounding the theft of a group of artifacts", and that actions had been enacted to enhance safeguarding and monitoring systems.
The chief of domestic security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was cited by the official media as declaring that law enforcement were probing the theft, which he said had focused on several "historical artifacts and unique items".
He added that security personnel at the museum and additional people were being interrogated.
The National Museum, which was founded in the early twentieth century, houses the primary historical artifacts in Syria.
It features clay cuneiform tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from an ancient city, where proof of the earliest linguistic system was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from the ancient city, among the foremost ancient sites of the historical period; and a ancient synagogue that was constructed at an ancient location.
The museum was compelled to shut in the early 2010s, one year after the start of the destructive conflict. A large portion of the holdings was removed and kept at secret locations to safeguard them.
It began limited operations in 2018 and returned to normal in January 2025, one month after rebel forces overthrew President Bashar al-Assad.
All six of nationally recognized sites were harmed or significantly impacted during the civil war.
The IS organization demolished numerous religious structures and historical sites at the archaeological site, claiming that they were idolatrous. Unesco denounced the damage as a war crime.
Numerous historical objects were also damaged or stolen from archaeological sites and museums.
