BY KHALED ISKEF
According to private sources, the Turkish-backed factions, in cooperation with Turkish intelligence officers, stole a number of archaeological artifacts in "Afrin", north of Aleppo, and smuggled them to Turkey.
The sources said that the militants deliberately stole a mosaic from the village of Darmash, as well as rocks, paintings and archaeological finds, while Turkish intelligence officers covered the excavations and facilitated their transport to Turkey to sell them secretly there.
The sources added that the excavations are carried out randomly and not scientifically, due to the militants ’lack of experience in the issue of antiquities, as they use tractors and bulldozers in searches, which led to the destruction of at least 25 archaeological sites as a result of random bulldozing in search of archaeological finds.
The sources pointed out that the recent arrest of an officer by the Turkish intelligence for his involvement in stealing antiquities and transporting them from Idlib to Turkey came as a result of his work alone on behalf of a network of officers working collectively in looting antiquities from Syria and selling them in the Turkish market, under the coverage of high-level government officials in Ankara.
The operations of stealing antiquities from “Afrin” and sabotaging its archaeological sites targeted the most important archaeological hills and historical temples. The basalt lion statue in the “Ain Dara” temple is one of the most famous pieces that were stolen since late last year, in addition to the bulldozing of the “Aranda” hill. The archaeological site and the destruction of the historic Sheikh Hamid shrine, amid a long list of looted and destroyed sites and monuments, with Turkish intelligence support.
WRITER
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