Ancient Sculptures Removed from Syria's National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable sculptures and additional items have been stolen from Syria's National Museum in the capital, sources confirm.
The robbery was discovered on the start of the week, when employees reportedly found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the inside.
The six missing statues were crafted from marble and traced back to the Roman era, a source stated to the news agency.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to identify the "events surrounding the disappearance of a number of items", and that steps had been implemented to enhance safeguarding and observation methods.
The director of internal security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the official media as stating that law enforcement were probing the incident, which he said had focused on several "archaeological statues and valuable objects".
He continued that guards at the museum and additional people were being questioned.
The National Museum, which was established in the early twentieth century, houses the primary cultural treasures in Syria.
It features ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the ancient era from an ancient city, where proof of the earliest complete alphabet was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD classical statues from the ancient city, among the foremost historical locations of the historical period; and a ancient synagogue that was built at Dura Europos.
The museum was forced to close in 2012, a year after the start of the destructive conflict. The majority of the collection was removed and preserved at undisclosed sites to safeguard them.
It reopened partially in recent years and returned to normal in early this year, four weeks after insurgents removed the Assad regime.
Each of the six of the country's cultural landmarks were damaged or partly ruined during the conflict.
The Islamic State group blew up multiple temples and other structures at Palmyra, asserting that they were idolatrous. Unesco censured the demolition as a war crime.
Countless artefacts were also damaged or looted from dig sites and museums.
