German police seize collection of stolen Syrian artfiacts dating back to the ancient  kingdom of Ebla 

Terrorist organizations in Syria have deliberately stolen and vandalized Syria’s rich cultural heritage, looted Syrian wealth, smuggled it across the border and sold it in the black market, while the Directorate of Antiquities and Museums is exerting its efforts to recover those human treasures.

In this regard, the German police in the city of “Baden-Wurttemberg” is currently investigating a German man in possession of a set of ancient artifacts, including a pottery inscription that was illegally stolen from the Idlib Museum in 2015 and that dates back, according to German media, to the Kingdom of Ebla in the period extending from 2350 to 2250 B.C.

In a statement to SANA, Director-General of the Directorate of Antiquities and Museums Mohamed Nazir Awad said: “The appearance and confiscation of this pottery inscription in Germany is good, as this pottery inscription,” tablet ” was stolen and looted from the Museum of Idlib in 2015 and have remained hidden since that time until now.

“We have started at the Ministry of Culture- the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums- a set of procedures that pave the way for the recovery of this inscription through diplomatic channels in communication with the Ministry of foreign affairs and with friends in Europe, including those who worked at the Ebla archaeological mission, in order to mobilize the necessary efforts to recover looted Syrian antiquities,” Awad continued.

He explained that our goal is to recover stolen and looted Syrian antiquities, whether they were stolen from museums such as the Museum of Raqqa or Idlib, or from Syrian antiquities that were stolen by secret excavations and crossed the border when terrorist organizations took control of them. These antiquities were popular in the black market which appeared during the crisis in Syria.

Amal Farhat