Ancient Statues Taken from the National Museum Located in Damascus
Ancient sculptures and other artefacts have been taken from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, officials say.
The burglary was found on the start of the week, when staff allegedly found that a doorway had been damaged from the interior.
The six taken statues were marble creations and dated back to the Roman era, one official stated to the Associated Press.
Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had opened an investigation to establish the "details surrounding the disappearance of a group of items", and that measures had been enacted to improve protection and monitoring systems.
The director of domestic security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the government press as saying that law enforcement were probing the theft, which he said had focused on several "ancient sculptures and rare collectibles".
He noted that security personnel at the museum and other individuals were being questioned.
The National Museum, which was established in the early twentieth century, holds the most important historical artifacts in Syria.
It includes clay cuneiform tablets tracing back to the Bronze Age from historical site, where proof of the oldest known linguistic system was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, a significant historical locations of the historical period; and a 3rd Century AD Jewish temple that was constructed at another archaeological site.
The facility was forced to close in the early 2010s, a year after the beginning of the destructive conflict. The majority of the artifacts was evacuated and stored at secret locations to safeguard them.
It began limited operations in recent years and completely reopened in the beginning of the year, four weeks after insurgents deposed President Bashar al-Assad.
All six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were affected or significantly impacted during the internal struggle.
The IS organization destroyed several ancient buildings and historical sites at Palmyra, claiming that they were idolatrous. Unesco condemned the demolition as a atrocity.
Many cultural items were also destroyed or looted from historical locations and cultural institutions.
