Valuable Sculptures Taken from the National Museum Located in Damascus
Valuable sculptures and other artefacts have been removed from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, sources confirm.
The burglary was noticed on the start of the week, when museum workers apparently found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the inside.
The six missing sculptures were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, an authority informed the Associated Press.
Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had opened an investigation to establish the "circumstances surrounding the loss of a collection of items", and that actions had been enacted to improve protection and monitoring systems.
The director of internal security in the Damascus region, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was cited by the state-run Sana news agency as declaring that security forces were examining the theft, which he said had affected several "ancient sculptures and valuable objects".
He added that guards at the facility and additional people were being interviewed.
The Damascus Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, contains the most important archaeological collection in Syria.
It features clay cuneiform tablets tracing back to the ancient era from Ugarit, where evidence of the earliest linguistic system was found; 1st and 2nd Century AD ancient art from historical site, among the foremost cultural centres of the classical era; and a 3rd Century AD religious building that was constructed at Dura Europos.
The museum was forced to close in 2012, one year after the beginning of the internal strife. The majority of the collection was evacuated and preserved at undisclosed sites to safeguard them.
It reopened partially in recent years and resumed full operations in early this year, one month after insurgents overthrew the Assad regime.
Every one of nationally recognized sites were damaged or partially destroyed during the internal struggle.
The militant faction destroyed several temples and additional edifices at Palmyra, claiming that they were against their beliefs. Unesco censured the destruction as a violation.
Countless cultural items were also damaged or looted from dig sites and museums.
