ST - Member of The Italian senate House Paolo Romani headed  a delegation of Italian parliamentarians and politicians to visit the historical city of Palmyra.

“I was excited to come to Palmyra and see its ancient civilization, especially at a time that all the world is interested in the city's ancient  heritage. I have a great desire to show  all Italians the importance of  the historical sites in Syria and to cover the crimes committed by the terrorist organization Daesh against humanity by destroying this human heritage." , Paolo Romani, told the media in Palmyra.

Romani pointed out that there are many archaeological sites in Italy and Europe, but the existence of the ruins of Palmyra in the middle of the desert is "something very special and beautiful", expressing his great hope to cooperate to provide something useful for this marvelous city.

Members of the delegation also watched a film about the life of the martyr of civilization, archaeologist Khaled Al-Asa'ad, who was assassinated by the enemies of culture and humanity. Then they visited famous temple of Bel, street of columns, the ancient amphitheater and many other places.

Later, the Italian delegation visited the city of Homs and  inspected the volume of  destruction  and damages caused by terrorist groups in the neighborhoods of Jouret al-Shayah, Khaldiya and Qusour.

The delegation also visited the old markets of Homs, the Great Mosque of Old Homs and the Church of Um Al-Zanar and was briefed on the return to life after years of control by terrorist groups.

M.Wassouf

DAMASCUS, (ST)-In his lecture "The Situation of the Syrian Antiquities during the War", Dr. Mahmoud Hammoud, the

Director General of Antiquities and Museums (GDAM), explained the current situation of the Syrian museums and archeological sites and highlighted the disaster befallen the Syrian cultural heritage because of the terrorist war waged on the country, according to the GDAM's website.

The lecture was delivered on the sidelines of the 31st Book Fair currently held at al-Assad National Library in Damascus,

He talked about the destruction and vandalism which the archeological sites in the Syrian provinces of Idleb, Aleppo, Raqqa , Deir ezzour and Daraa were exposed to. He also talked about the destruction and looting of the archeological places in Afrin area in Syria's northern region by the Turkish occupation military and its terrorist agents.  These terrorist acts caused huge destruction to the archeological hills in the province including Ein Dara, Burj Abdalou, Prophet Houri, Janderas and several other sites.

Many times, people have wondered on how to identify and interpret past civilizations of Syria and Mesopotamia through the cuneiform texts discovered in archaeological sites. If we take the samples of the discoveries of Ugarit, “Ras Shamra”, on the Syrian coast for example, we may get our answer. In this regard, the editor of Al-Maarifah researcher Dr. Ali Al-Qayyem said:

Since the discovery of Ugarit in 1929 and till this day, archaeologists worked hard in studying the tablets which were found in different parts of the site written in several languages: Acadian, Hittite, Hieroglyphic, Babylonian, Assyrian, as well as the Canaanite Ugaritan alphabet. The job was not easy of course because some, or may be most, of the discovered tablets were deformed or missing important parts due to the passage of time, fires, or the destruction of the city of 1185BC as a result of the invasions of the peoples of the Sea.

The National Exploration Mission of the Department of Antiquities of Sweida discovered the lower parts of the western wall of the archaeological city of Shahba. By this discovery they were able to show more buildings and dams that were not known before.

In a statement to SANA, Dr. Nashaat Kiwan, head of the Sweida Department, explained that during the current excavations in Khirbet Al-Juba area, they discovered that the fence of the archaeological city of Shahba contains parts of double wall.  Along the fence there is a corridor which was gradually supported by the earth's inclination towards the rock cliff.

Since the beginning of this year, the Syrian-Hungarian Joint Mission has carried out a set of restoration and reconstruction works at the Krack des Chevaliers in Homs. The mission will also return and complete its work in October.

The Director of the Castle, Naima Muhartim, stressed the importance of this joint work in implementing many works related to the castle, its squares and some of its halls.