Historic Artifacts Taken from the National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable statues and other artefacts have been stolen from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, officials say.
The burglary was noticed on Monday, when staff allegedly found that a doorway had been broken from the inside.
The multiple taken sculptures were made of marble and originated to the ancient Roman times, one official informed the media outlet.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to identify the "circumstances surrounding the loss of a number of exhibits", and that steps had been enacted to improve security and surveillance.
The director of domestic security in the Damascus region, General Osama Atkeh, was cited by the government press as declaring that law enforcement were examining the incident, which he said had focused on several "archaeological statues and rare collectibles".
He added that guards at the facility and other persons were being interviewed.
The Damascus Museum, which was founded in 1919, holds the primary cultural treasures in Syria.
It features clay cuneiform tablets originating to the Bronze Age from Ugarit, where indications of the earliest writing system was uncovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from the ancient city, one of the most important ancient sites of the historical period; and a third century synagogue that was built at Dura Europos.
The facility was had to cease operations in 2012, a year after the start of the devastating civil war. A large portion of the collection was transferred and kept at secure places to protect them.
It partially resumed in recent years and returned to normal in early this year, four weeks after rebel forces removed the Assad regime.
Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were affected or partly ruined during the civil war.
The militant faction demolished numerous ancient buildings and historical sites at Palmyra, asserting that they were against their beliefs. The cultural organization censured the destruction as a war crime.
Countless historical objects were also lost or taken from archaeological sites and cultural institutions.
