Syria Returns Assyrian Antiquities to Iraq

     

DAMASCUS, Syria- UPI — Syrian officials returned an Assyrian artifact to the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Archeology after it was confiscated from smugglers, authorities said.

Syrian Culture Minister Riadh Naasan Agha returned a 40-inch by 15-inch relic thought to be part of the Temple of Nimrod located near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Syrian News Agency reported. Nimrod was a Mesopotamian king figuring large in Koranic legend as the arch rebel against the authority of Allah.

The stone carving features a depiction of Nimrod. It is carved into a special type of stone that glows in the dark, the report said. Syrian authorities returned more than 700 artifacts to Iraq in late spring.

Most were stolen during the opening of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Agha said Syria still holds several Iraqi antiquities that needed further analysis to determine their proper origin before handing them over to authorities.

Iraq Antiquities Minister Mohammad Abbas al-Uraibi said Italian authorities also planned to hand over around 38 confiscated artifacts sometime soon.