DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Thieves broke into Syria 's national museum and stole several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era, officials said Tuesday.
The National Museum of Damascus was briefly closed after the heist was discovered early Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country was recovering from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule last year.
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Ancient sculptures are displayed in a section titled "The World of Women" at the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A visitor looks at ancient mosaics on display at the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
FILE - In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency, SANA, people attend the reopening ceremony for Syria's National Museum, in Damascus, Syria, Oct. 28, 2018. (SANA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a visitor looks at ancient artifacts during the reopening ceremony for Syria's National Museum, in Damascus, Syria, Oct. 28, 2018. (SANA via AP, File)
The country’s largest museum houses priceless antiquities. After the civil war started in March 2011, security was improved with metal gates and surveillance cameras, and authorities moved hundreds of artifacts to Damascus from around the country.
An official from Syria’s Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums told The Associated Press that six marble statues were stolen, and that an investigation was ongoing.
Another official told the AP that the theft occurred Sunday night and was discovered when one of the doors at the classical department was found broken.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations because the government had not yet made a statement.
The police chief in Damascus, Brig. Gen. Osama Atkeh, later told state news agency SANA that several statues and rare collectibles were stolen from the museum. He said that guards there and other individuals were being questioned.
An AP journalist who tried to enter the museum Tuesday was told by guards that photography was not allowed.
Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said in a statement later in the day that an investigation had been launched and that measures were taken immediately to guarantee the safety of the antiquities inside the museum. It did not say what was stolen, only saying that “some exhibits” went missing.
The section of the museum where the statues were reported stolen is "a beautiful and historically rich department with artifacts dating back to the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, the former head of the government’s antiquities and museums department.
The museum reopened on Jan. 8, a month after rebels ousted President Bashar Assad, ushering in a new era for the country. Fearful of looting, the museum had briefly closed after a rebel offensive ended five decades of Assad family rule.
The years of conflict had badly affected areas including the historic central town of Palmyra, once held by the Islamic State group. In 2015, IS members destroyed mausoleums in Palmyra’s UNESCO World Heritage site that is famous for its 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades, other ruins and priceless artifacts.
Mroue reported from Beirut.
Ancient sculptures are displayed in a section titled "The World of Women" at the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A visitor looks at ancient mosaics on display at the National Museum of Syria in Damascus, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
FILE - In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency, SANA, people attend the reopening ceremony for Syria's National Museum, in Damascus, Syria, Oct. 28, 2018. (SANA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a visitor looks at ancient artifacts during the reopening ceremony for Syria's National Museum, in Damascus, Syria, Oct. 28, 2018. (SANA via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife will go on trial on drug trafficking charges next June, a judge said Wednesday, as their lawyers continue to object to the U.S. military action that snatched them from power.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set the June 1 trial date at the request of lawyers on both sides. Under the approved schedule, defense lawyers will begin filing requests in early September to challenge the indictment and the couple will return to the courtroom Nov. 17 for oral arguments on the motions.
Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held at a Brooklyn jail since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to New York in early January.
Neither spoke during Wednesday’s 15-minute hearing as each sat separately at a defense table, surrounded by their lawyers. Both have pleaded not guilty. They face potential life prison sentences if a jury agrees that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S.
As he was led into the courtroom, the bespectacled Maduro greeted the judge’s staff and shook hands with lawyers for him and his wife. Noticeably thinner in a tan jail suit and with his thick mustache, he seemed upbeat, smiling and chatting with his lawyer. He listened to a Spanish interpretation of the proceeding through headphones and clasped his hands in front of him in a prayerlike gesture. He had a black pen wedged in his right fingers and sporadically jotted notes on a white pad.
As deputy U.S. marshals led him out, he waved to someone in the gallery.
President Donald Trump’s administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a “surgical law enforcement operation” in a criminal case first brought six years ago. Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.
U.S. prosecutors say Maduro carried out a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins.
“I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country,” he said in Spanish at his arraignment in January.
Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, has said he expects to contest the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction.”
During Wednesday's hearing, Pollack said he will first challenge the indictment on sovereign immunity grounds because if that is successful, Maduro won't have to continue litigating the case.
The lawyers have said there are complex legal defenses that the court must address before a trial can begin.
Maduro and Flores have not asked to be released on bail.
In this courtroom sketch, from left, former Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro, attorneys Anna Estevao and Mark Donnelly, and Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, stand during a pretrial hearing in a drug trafficking case for Maduro and Flores, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Manhattan federal court in New York. (Jane Rosenberg via AP)
A Venezuelan man, who is in opposition to former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, shouts at pro-Maduro protestors outside of Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in New York.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A motorcade believed to be carrying former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro leaves a federal courthouse in New York, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The motorcade believed to be carrying former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, travels along FDR drive after leaving Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A small group of protesters chant slogans outside of a federal courthouse where former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to appear before a judge in New York, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People protest in support of former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores outside of Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in New York.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Police officers stand in front of a federal courthouse where former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to make an appearance in New York, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People protest in support of former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores outside of Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in New York.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People protest in support of former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores outside of Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in New York.(AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Law enforcement officers stand outside Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of a pre-trial hearing in former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's drug trafficking case, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A motorcade believed to be carrying former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro arrives to a federal courthouse in New York, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Police officers wait for the arrival of a motorcade carrying former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro in New York, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A motorcade believed to be carrying former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro leaves Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of a pre-trial hearing in a drug trafficking case, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
FILE - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro points to supporters during a campaign rally in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
