Valuable Statues Taken from Syria's National Museum Located in Damascus
Historic sculptures and cultural objects have been removed from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, officials say.
The burglary was discovered on the start of the week, when staff allegedly found that one of the museum's doors had been forced from the inside.
The multiple missing sculptures were crafted from marble and traced back to the Roman period, an authority told the Associated Press.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to establish the "details surrounding the theft of a collection of artifacts", and that steps had been enacted to improve protection and monitoring systems.
The chief of internal security in the Damascus region, Security Chief Atkeh, was quoted by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that security forces were examining the robbery, which he said had affected several "historical artifacts and rare collectibles".
He added that security personnel at the facility and additional people were being questioned.
The Damascus Museum, which was established in the early twentieth century, houses the primary cultural treasures in Syria.
It contains clay cuneiform tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from historical site, where proof of the earliest linguistic system was found; early centuries CE Greco-Roman sculptures from historical site, a significant ancient sites of the ancient world; and a third century synagogue that was constructed at another archaeological site.
The institution was had to cease operations in the early 2010s, one year after the start of the destructive conflict. Most of the artifacts was evacuated and kept at undisclosed sites to safeguard them.
It reopened partially in recent years and completely reopened in the beginning of the year, one month after insurgents removed Syria's former leader.
Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or partly ruined during the internal struggle.
The Islamic State group blew up numerous temples and other structures at the archaeological site, claiming that they were un-Islamic. Unesco denounced the demolition as a atrocity.
Countless artefacts were also lost or looted from historical locations and collections.
