DGAM briefs IEG on Syrian heritage looted by terrorist organizations

Director-General of Antiquities and Museums in Syria has called on the international community to work to stop looting of the Syrian cultural heritage by the terrorist organizations and to implement the UN resolution No.2199 (2015) that calls for a ban on trade in cultural materials illegally removed from Syria.

Maamoun Abdul Karim, who was speaking in the 13thmeeting of the INTERPOL Expert Group (IEG) on stolen cultural properties, asserted the increment of illegal excavations and artifacts theft by terrorist organizations.

“The terror ISIS organization has destroyed unique artifacts plus hundreds of heritage sites to finance terrorism,” he said, referring to the measures adopted by the DGAM to protect heritage sites since the beginning of the terror war on Syria.

The INTERPOL Expert Group’s meeting was organized on March 8-9 in Lyon, France, in the presence of 30 participants from the U.S., Europe, Lebanon, Syria, the UNESCO, the Security Council, the International Customs and the INTERPOL.

The first day of the meeting was dedicated to discuss the current situation in Syria and Iraq and the countries that facilitate the smuggling of stolen artifacts to the end market in order to reach ways to restrict the financing of the organized crime and terrorism in the Middle East.

Basma Qaddour