Artifacts, Stolen by Terrorists from a Temple in Jobar, Appear in Turkey and “Israel”

WASHINGTON, (ST)- A report by the American “Associated Press” News Agency revealed that precious artifacts, including manuscripts from the Tourah, that were previously stolen from one of the most ancient Jewish temples in Jobar neighborhood in Damascus when this area was under the control of the terrorist organizations, appeared in Turkey and “Israel”.

Terrorist groups in Syria intended to steal antiquities and smuggle them within the framework of their plans to undermine the cultural heritage of Syria. The stolen antiquities used to be smuggled from Syria through Turkish mediators.

Looting and stealing antiquities has been among the terrorists’ most important sources of financing.

 According to “activists” interviewed by the US news agency, these artifacts were stolen from the temple in 2013 when the terrorist controlled eastern Ghouta. Then, the so-called “local council” handed many of them, including torahs, tapestries and chandeliers, to “Failaq al-Rahman” Terror group before the Syrian Army started a military operation in Ghouta this year resulted in defeating the terrorists.

According to the agency, another collection of artifacts were stolen from the temple in 2014, later, these pieces began to appear gradually in Turkey and some of them were taken to Europe to end up later in “Israel”, the agency added.

Reports and images of looting, smuggling and destroying antiquities by the terrorists of “Jabhat al-Nusra, Jaish al-Islam, Failaq al-Rahman” and affiliated groups didn’t stop during the years of the war on Syria.  After Palmyra, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, the Eastern Ghouta was among the biggest center of Syrian antiquities targeted by terrorism because of human activities there over more than 10 thousand years.

The historical city of Palmyra was also exposed to systematic destruction by Daesh terrorist organization in 2015. There, the terrorists destroyed the Lion of al-Lat statue, blew up Bel and Baalshamin temples, destroyed the tower tombs and the arch of Triumph, turned Palmyra National Museum into a prison and savagely killed prominent Syrian archeologist Khaled al-As’ad.

Hamda Mustafa