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HERITAGE AMID WAR

Syria on the trail of its looted treasures

The Damascus Museum, with pieces in its vast collection dating back over 10,000 years, has finally reopened its doors, closed on Dec. 7, 2024 for fear of looting.

Syria on the trail of its looted treasures

A number of structures in the Palmyra necropolis pulverized. (Credit: AFP)

Compounding countless human losses, the war in Syria has also devastated its heritage. Entire sections of humanity's millennia-old past have been wiped out. According to satellite images transmitted by the United Nations, at least three hundred archaeological sites have been destroyed, damaged or looted. These sites used to attract more than eight million tourists a year, according to a report published in 2021 by Syria Justice and Accountability Center (SJAC). "The tourism industry employed 8.3 percent of the local workforce and contributed nearly 14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)."The 13-year war plagued every district in Syria, although the scale of destruction varies greatly from one area to another. One hundred and forty kilometers south of Damascus, the famous 2nd-century Roman theater at Bosra, a UNESCO World Heritage...
Compounding countless human losses, the war in Syria has also devastated its heritage. Entire sections of humanity's millennia-old past have been wiped out. According to satellite images transmitted by the United Nations, at least three hundred archaeological sites have been destroyed, damaged or looted. These sites used to attract more than eight million tourists a year, according to a report published in 2021 by Syria Justice and Accountability Center (SJAC). "The tourism industry employed 8.3 percent of the local workforce and contributed nearly 14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)."The 13-year war plagued every district in Syria, although the scale of destruction varies greatly from one area to another. One hundred and forty kilometers south of Damascus, the famous 2nd-century Roman theater at Bosra, a UNESCO World Heritage...
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