The country has been in turmoil since the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s government last year
Thieves have broken into Syria’s National Museum in Damascus and stolen several valuable Roman artifacts, according to multiple media reports.
Turmoil in Syria following years of civil war culminated last year in the ouster of longtime leader Bashar Assad, plunging the country into months of clashes between the new government’s forces and rival factions.
The break-in reportedly took place on Sunday evening and was discovered early Monday. The Associated Press said the thieves stole several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era, while other outlets reported that six gold ingots were among the missing items. An investigation is underway.
The theft followed warnings from international organizations. In June, the Paris-based International Council of Museums (ICOM) reported that an active black market for cultural objects had emerged in Syria with looting and illicit trafficking of artifacts being on the rise. Two months later, the Syrian antiquities agency and UNESCO launched a project to upgrade the museum’s security systems.
Founded in 1919, the National Museum in Damascus is one of the oldest and most important museums in the Arab world, housing collections that span thousands of years of Syrian history. Closed in 2012 during the civil war, it partially reopened in 2018 and resumed full public access in January 2025.
Assad’s fall followed a surprise offensive by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda offshoot, which captured Damascus in late 2024. HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa became Syria’s president. On Monday, he met US President Donald Trump in Washington after being removed from the US State Department’s ‘global terrorist’ list. Following the meeting, Syria pledged to join the US-led coalition against militant jihadist organization Islamic State (IS).
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IS devastated Syria’s cultural heritage in 2015, when its militants seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and blew up some of its monuments, including the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel. The group looted countless artifacts and executed the site’s chief archaeologist.
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