Daraa-Sana
The Department of Antiquities in Daraa received hundreds of artifacts that were looted by terrorist organizations from archaeological sites in the governorate during the years of the crisis with the intention of smuggling them out of Syria.
The head of the Department of Antiquities, Dr. Muhammad Khair al-Nasrallah, stated in a statement to the correspondent of SANA today that foiling the smuggling process was carried out by the competent authorities, stating that the recovered pieces included 213 pottery vessels of various sizes and 174 different glass containers, all of which date back to the ancient bronze, Roman and Byzantine times.
He added that the department has kept the recovered items and documented them in order to display them in a future stage in the halls of the National Museum in Daraa according to the era they belong to.
Nasrallah pointed out that the years of the crisis witnessed the recovery of a large number of artifacts looted by armed terrorist organizations with illegal excavations with the intention of smuggling and material benefit, pointing to the extent of attrition and looting suffered by the Syrian cultural heritage in the years of the crisis.
The terrorist groups in Daraa have smuggled thousands of artifacts and sculptures dating back thousands of years in addition to the destruction and sabotage of many archaeological finds through illegal excavation in archaeological sites.
