Daraa Antiquities Directorate receives hundreds of recovered artifacts that were looted by terrorist organizations

DARAA, (ST)- The Antiquities Directorate in Daraa has received hundreds of artifacts that were previously looted by terrorist organizations from archaeological sites in the province during the years of the crisis with the intention of smuggling from Syria.

Mohammad Kheir al-Nasrallah, Director of the Daraa Antiquities told SANA reporter on Wednesday that the smuggling process was foiled by  the concerned Syrian authorities, saying that the recovered archeological pieces included 213 pottery vessels of different sizes and 174 glass vessels. The artifacts date back to the Bronze, Roman, and Byzantine ages.

He added that the directorate has preserved the recovered pieces and documented them in order to be displayed at a later stage in the galleries of the Daraa National Museum in accordance with the era to which they belong.

 A large number of artifacts, that were looted by terrorist organizations in illegal excavations with the purpose of smuggling and selling them abroad, have been recovered over the years of the crisis in Syria, al-Nasrallah made it clear, noting that the Syrian cultural heritage has been exposed to a huge campaign of looting and vandalism during the crisis.

Over the past years, the terrorist groups in Daraa have smuggled thousands of artifacts and sculptures dating back to thousands of years. They have also destroyed and vandalized many archaeological findings through illegal excavations in the country’s archaeological sites.

Hamda Mustafa