🔗 Share this article

Valuable artifacts and other artefacts have been removed from the National Museum of Syria in the capital, officials say.

The theft was noticed on the start of the week, when employees reportedly found that a doorway had been forced from the interior.

The six stolen pieces were made of marble and traced back to the ancient Roman times, an authority told the news agency.

The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to determine the "circumstances surrounding the loss of a collection of items", and that measures had been taken to strengthen safeguarding and monitoring systems.

The director of domestic security in Damascus province, Security Chief Atkeh, was quoted by the government press as stating that authorities were probing the theft, which he said had focused on several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".

He noted that guards at the institution and additional people were being questioned.

The National Museum, which was established in the early twentieth century, houses the most important historical artifacts in Syria.

It features clay cuneiform tablets originating to the ancient era from historical site, where proof of the most ancient linguistic system was found; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from the ancient city, one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world; and a ancient synagogue that was built at Dura Europos.

The museum was forced to close in the early 2010s, one year after the beginning of the internal strife. Most of the artifacts was evacuated and stored at secure places to protect them.

It began limited operations in 2018 and resumed full operations in early this year, a month after rebel forces removed the Assad regime.

Each of the six of the country's cultural landmarks were damaged or partially destroyed during the conflict.

The Islamic State group destroyed several ancient buildings and other structures at the archaeological site, claiming that they were un-Islamic. The cultural organization condemned the demolition as a violation.

Countless artefacts were also lost or taken from dig sites and museums.