Historic artifacts and cultural objects have been stolen from the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, sources confirm.
The robbery was found on the start of the week, when staff allegedly found that an entrance had been damaged from the interior.
The multiple missing sculptures were made of marble and dated back to the ancient Roman times, an authority stated to the Associated Press.
The nation's antiquities authority said it had opened an investigation to establish the "details surrounding the theft of a group of artifacts", and that actions had been enacted to improve security and monitoring systems.
The head of internal security in the Damascus region, General Osama Atkeh, was cited by the official media as saying that authorities were investigating the incident, which he said had targeted several "archaeological statues and valuable objects".
He continued that guards at the museum and other individuals were being interrogated.
The Damascus Museum, which was founded in the early twentieth century, houses the most important historical artifacts in Syria.
It contains historical records dating back to the Bronze Age from Ugarit, where proof of the earliest complete alphabet was uncovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD ancient art from historical site, among the foremost historical locations of the classical era; and a third century synagogue that was established at Dura Europos.
The facility was had to cease operations in 2012, one year after the start of the devastating civil war. Most of the holdings was transferred and kept at secret locations to safeguard them.
It partially resumed in 2018 and returned to normal in January 2025, four weeks after opposition groups removed the Assad regime.
All six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or partially destroyed during the conflict.
The Islamic State group demolished numerous temples and historical sites at Palmyra, asserting that they were un-Islamic. The cultural organization condemned the damage as a war crime.
Many cultural items were also lost or taken from historical locations and museums.
