🔗 Share this article

Ancient artifacts and additional items have been stolen from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, officials say.

The robbery was discovered on Monday, when museum workers apparently found that an entrance had been forced from the interior.

The multiple missing sculptures were marble creations and traced back to the ancient Roman times, an authority stated to the news agency.

The nation's antiquities authority said it had opened an investigation to determine the "circumstances surrounding the loss of a collection of artifacts", and that actions had been enacted to improve safeguarding and observation methods.

The chief of internal security in the capital area, General Osama Atkeh, was quoted by the official media as stating that authorities were investigating the theft, which he said had focused on several "ancient sculptures and rare collectibles".

He continued that museum protectors at the museum and additional people were being questioned.

The Damascus Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, contains the significant archaeological collection in Syria.

It includes ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from Ugarit, where proof of the most ancient writing system was found; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from historical site, among the foremost ancient sites of the ancient world; and a third century Jewish temple that was established at Dura Europos.

The museum was forced to close in the early 2010s, a year after the outbreak of the internal strife. The majority of the holdings was transferred and preserved at secure places to ensure their safety.

It partially resumed in recent years and returned to normal in early this year, one month after opposition groups overthrew Syria's former leader.

Each of the six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or significantly impacted during the conflict.

The IS organization blew up numerous temples and other structures at Palmyra, asserting that they were un-Islamic. Unesco censured the damage as a violation.

Countless artefacts were also lost or stolen from historical locations and museums.