Ancient Artifacts Removed from the National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable statues and additional items have been stolen from Syria's National Museum in the capital, authorities report.
The theft was found on the start of the week, when employees allegedly found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the inside.
The half-dozen stolen statues were marble creations and originated to the Roman period, one official informed the media outlet.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to determine the "events surrounding the loss of a number of items", and that actions had been enacted to improve security and monitoring systems.
The director of internal security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was cited by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that security forces were probing the theft, which he said had targeted several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".
He added that security personnel at the institution and other persons were being interviewed.
The cultural institution, which was founded in 1919, houses the significant archaeological collection in the country.
It includes clay cuneiform tablets tracing back to the Bronze Age from historical site, where proof of the most ancient linguistic system was found; Greco-Roman period ancient art from Palmyra, a significant cultural centres of the ancient world; and a ancient Jewish temple that was constructed at Dura Europos.
The facility was forced to close in 2012, a year after the start of the internal strife. A large portion of the holdings was evacuated and preserved at secret locations to protect them.
It partially resumed in 2018 and resumed full operations in early this year, one month after insurgents overthrew President Bashar al-Assad.
Every one of the country's cultural landmarks were affected or partly ruined during the conflict.
The IS organization demolished numerous temples and historical sites at the archaeological site, claiming that they were un-Islamic. International authorities censured the damage as a violation.
Many artefacts were also lost or stolen from dig sites and museums.
