đź”— Share this article Ancient Statues Removed from the National Museum in Damascus The National Museum resumed complete operations in January of this year, four weeks after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. Valuable statues and other artefacts have been stolen from the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, authorities report. The robbery was discovered on the start of the week, when staff reportedly found that a doorway had been forced from the interior. The half-dozen stolen statues were crafted from marble and originated to the ancient Roman times, one official told the Associated Press. The nation's antiquities authority said it had initiated an inquiry to establish the "events surrounding the loss of a group of artifacts", and that steps had been taken to improve safeguarding and surveillance. The head of domestic security in the capital area, General Osama Atkeh, was quoted by the official media as stating that security forces were examining the robbery, which he said had affected several "archaeological statues and valuable objects". He continued that guards at the facility and additional people were being questioned. The cultural institution, which was founded in 1919, contains the most important archaeological collection in Syria. It contains ancient inscribed tablets dating back to the Bronze Age from Ugarit, where proof of the oldest known complete alphabet was found; early centuries CE Greco-Roman sculptures from Palmyra, one of the most important cultural centres of the classical era; and a ancient Jewish temple that was established at Dura Europos. The museum was compelled to shut in 2012, one year after the beginning of the devastating civil war. Most of the holdings was removed and kept at undisclosed sites to safeguard them. It reopened partially in 2018 and resumed full operations in early this year, a month after rebel forces overthrew Syria's former leader. All six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or significantly impacted during the internal struggle. The IS organization destroyed multiple religious structures and additional edifices at the archaeological site, asserting that they were un-Islamic. Unesco condemned the destruction as a war crime. Many cultural items were also damaged or taken from archaeological sites and museums.