🔗 Share this article

Valuable sculptures and cultural objects have been removed from the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, officials say.

The robbery was discovered on Monday, when employees allegedly found that a doorway had been broken from the inside.

The half-dozen taken pieces were marble creations and traced back to the Roman era, an authority told the Associated Press.

Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had opened an investigation to identify the "details surrounding the disappearance of a collection of items", and that steps had been implemented to improve security and monitoring systems.

The chief of domestic security in the capital area, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was cited by the official media as saying that security forces were investigating the robbery, which he said had affected several "historical artifacts and rare collectibles".

He added that guards at the facility and other persons were being questioned.

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

It features clay cuneiform tablets tracing back to the 14th Century BC from an ancient city, where evidence of the earliest writing system was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, among the foremost cultural centres of the classical era; and a third century synagogue that was constructed at an ancient location.

The museum was forced to close in 2012, one year after the beginning of the internal strife. The majority of the artifacts was evacuated and stored at undisclosed sites to safeguard them.

It reopened partially in 2018 and completely reopened in the beginning of the year, four weeks after rebel forces overthrew President Bashar al-Assad.

All six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were affected or partially destroyed during the conflict.

The Islamic State group demolished several religious structures and other structures at the archaeological site, claiming that they were against their beliefs. International authorities condemned the demolition as a war crime.

Numerous cultural items were also damaged or taken from dig sites and collections.