Turkish occupation and terrorist mercenaries destroy ancient hills in Balikh Basin in Raqqa

The Turkish occupation forces and its mercenaries from the terrorist organizations bulldozed a number of archaeological hills in the Balikh Basin in the governorate of Raqqa as part of their plan to destroy and steal Syrian archaeological sites and monuments in an attempt to obliterate the Syrian identity and cultural heritage of the region.

Director of Antiquities and Museums, Dr. Mahmoud Hammoud said in a statement to SANA that the crimes of the Turkish occupation forces against the Syrian heritage included, in one month, the razing of a number of sites, including Hammam al-Turkmen, Tell Sahilan, Tal Aswad and Tal Jattal.

Hammoud said: “The Turkish occupation forces are systematically sabotaging and destroying these important archaeological sites and looting the monuments in them to obliterate their Syrian civilization identity.

The Director General of Antiquities and Museums called on specialized international bodies to help stop these criminal acts by the Turkish occupation, which is committing barbaric acts against antiquities, underlining the need for the international community to move to protect these important archaeological sites dating back to the seventh and eighth millennium BC.

The Syrian antiquities are subjected to continuous violations by the Turkish occupation forces and the terrorist mercenaries working under their command. The criminal acts  included bulldozing, bombing, and looting activities in addition to illegal excavations-  the last of which was excavation work in the occupied city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, under the supervision of Turkish intelligence.

Inas Abdulkareem