🔗 Share this article Ancient Statues Taken from the National Museum in Damascus The Damascus Museum resumed complete operations in the first month of this year, one month after the removal of Syria's former leader. Valuable artifacts and cultural objects have been stolen from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, authorities report. The robbery was discovered on Monday, when staff allegedly found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the interior. The multiple missing statues were crafted from marble and traced back to the Roman era, a source told the Associated Press. The nation's antiquities authority said it had launched a probe to determine the "events surrounding the loss of a collection of artifacts", and that actions had been implemented to strengthen protection and observation methods. The chief of national security in the Damascus region, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was referenced by the state-run Sana news agency as declaring that security forces were examining the theft, which he said had targeted several "archaeological statues and valuable objects". He added that museum protectors at the museum and other persons were being questioned. The National Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, contains the primary archaeological collection in Syria. It contains clay cuneiform tablets dating back to the ancient era from Ugarit, where indications of the earliest writing system was found; Greco-Roman period classical statues from historical site, a significant historical locations of the ancient world; and a ancient synagogue that was established at an ancient location. The institution was had to cease operations in 2012, twelve months after the outbreak of the devastating civil war. Most of the collection was removed and kept at secret locations to protect them. It began limited operations in recent years and returned to normal in early this year, one month after opposition groups deposed President Bashar al-Assad. Every one of the country's cultural landmarks were affected or partly ruined during the internal struggle. The militant faction blew up several ancient buildings and additional edifices at the archaeological site, claiming that they were against their beliefs. International authorities censured the destruction as a war crime. Numerous cultural items were also damaged or taken from historical locations and museums.