Historic Artifacts Stolen from the National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable statues and other artefacts have been taken from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, authorities report.
The theft was found on the start of the week, when museum workers reportedly found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the interior.
The six missing sculptures 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 initiated an inquiry to identify the "circumstances surrounding the theft of a group of artifacts", and that actions had been implemented to improve security and monitoring systems.
The director of internal security in the capital area, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the state-run Sana news agency as declaring that security forces were investigating the incident, which he said had affected several "archaeological statues and rare collectibles".
He continued that security personnel at the facility and other persons were being questioned.
The National Museum, which was founded in 1919, holds the most important cultural treasures in the country.
It features ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the ancient era from an ancient city, where indications of the most ancient linguistic system was found; Greco-Roman period Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, one of the most important ancient sites of the classical era; and a ancient Jewish temple that was established at another archaeological site.
The museum was forced to close in 2012, a year after the outbreak of the internal strife. Most of the holdings was evacuated and stored at secret locations to ensure their safety.
It partially resumed in 2018 and completely reopened in January 2025, a month after insurgents removed 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 Islamic State group demolished numerous temples and other structures at the archaeological site, asserting that they were un-Islamic. The cultural organization censured the damage as a violation.
Numerous cultural items were also lost or stolen from historical locations and museums.
