6000 Syrian Artifacts, Smuggled by Terrorists, Recovered

Director of the Museums Department at the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums (GDAM) Ahmad Deep has stressed that the Syrian authorities have managed to recover 6000 Syrian artifacts that were looted and smuggled by terrorists into other countries. He pointed out that 69 relics and 8 Mosaic panels were recovered from Lebanon.

In a statement of SANA, Deep said the GDAM has adopted several procedures as to preserve the Syrian antiquities from the terrorists’ acts of stealing and destruction.

According to Deep, such procedures included closing the museums after moving the artifacts to safe places and urging the local community to be part in the process of protecting their cultural heritage which constitutes the memory of every Syrian citizen. Also, the GDAM in cooperation with the media held awareness campaigns about the preservation of cultural heritage.

Deep clarified that the GDAM has supplied the international organizations concerned in protecting the world cultural heritage with documents and photos of the stolen artifacts and called on these parties to cooperate and coordinate to help recover the smuggled Syrian relics. He pointed out that the directorate has an electronic copy of the photos of the stolen pieces.

Regarding international cooperation in fighting illicit trafficking of artifacts, Director of the Legal Affairs at the GDAM Ayman Suleiman told SANA that UNESCO is playing an important role to help preserve world cultural heritage by adopting several legal and diplomatic procedures, holding training workshops and benefiting from the references which have documented the cultural properties the world’s countries.

Suleiman reiterated the need to amend some Syrian legislations on the protection of cultural heritage and stressed the importance of joining related international agreements.

 International Interpol reports say that illicit trafficking in cultural properties has grown worldwide and it has ranked second in terms of classifying international crime after the crimes of drug dealing.

Rawaa Ghanam