The Directorate of Museums in the Free Idlib Provincial Council said that they are seeking to recover ancient artifacts that were smuggled out of the province as well as to protect existing ones.
Anas Zeidan, Director of Idlib Museum, said that the Assad regime militias loot antiquities from the historical sites in the areas under their control to sell them on the black markets.
“Just as they destroyed the infrastructure of the country, Assad’s militias are seeking to erase our history,” Zeidan said.
Zeidan went on to say that they intend to file lawsuits in international courts to recover the looted relics that Assad’s militias smuggled out of Syria.
The war being launched by the Assad regime on the Syrian people since 2011 has led to the destruction of a large part of Syria’s historical heritage. Zeidan said that they preserved some valuable relics in the museum and in secret warehouses in the province.
The Directorate of Idlib Museums intends to communicate with UNESCO after the museum officials have compiled a list of the lost artifacts.
Home to some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Syria contains six historical cities and 12 sites that are on UNESCO’s lists of World Heritage Sites.
The Directorate is also working on determining the missing relics and ensuring that they are returned from outside the country according to international conventions. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Anadolu Agency)
