Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Idleb, SANA- Erdogan’s regime-backed terrorist groups continued their illicit excavation and digging operations to steal antiquities and distort the archeological sites in southwestern Idleb countryside in the framework of carrying out the schemes of their occupiers for the defacement of Syria’s historical identity and its cultural and civil heritage.
Identical media and local sources said that the terrorists of Turkish regime-backed “Jabhat al-Nusra” terrorist organization have brought in digging vehicles and equipment, in addition to archeological metal detectors for carrying out illegitimate excavation works at Tal Ghannam archeological site in Jisr al-Shoughour area, Idleb southwestern countryside.
The terrorists’ excavation works aimed at searching for antiques, looting and smuggling them later to Turkey, according to the sources.
The sources pointed out that Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists have carried out kidnapping campaigns against the locals of the areas to force them to search the antiquities and sell them to Turkish brokers, asserting that the terrorists intended to sabotage and destroy Tal Ghannam site during their searching operations.
In a statement to SANA, Head of the Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) Mahmoud Hammoud said that all the archeological sites controlled by the terrorist organizations in Idleb, Afrin and Aleppo are unfortunately desecrated by those terrorists who illegally carried out excavation works that aim at searching for treasures of antiques, as well as destroying the archeological heritage and civilization of Syria.
During the past few years, terrorists, led by Turkish, US, and French archeologists, excavated the archeological sites and looted a lot of antiques with the aim of sabotaging and devastating the Syrian cultural heritage, which constitutes a “war crime” that is added to the crimes committed against the Syrian people, history and culture.
Baraa Ali / Hala Zain
