Afrinpost – Follow-up
The American “Herald Tribune” newspaper revealed that “the armed groups backed by Turkey and deployed in Afrin have stolen a lion statue at the famous Ain Dara archaeological site made of basalt,”
according to Al-Ittihad Press website, the newspaper wrote that “the famous statue is no longer in place with the archaeological site in Ain Dara”, while an archaeologist confirmed, based on a comparison of aerial photos taken in 2018 and 2019, that “the basaltic statue is no longer in place, which means that it was stolen earlier.”
The website “Al-Ittihad” indicated, through a report published last month, that the statue was stolen, while one of the villagers of Ainadara said that the statue is not in its place, and said, “I know that the Lion was stolen after the occupation of Afrin several months ago.
” The archaeological temple of “Ain Dara”, which is distinguished by its rare sculptures made of basaltic stone and was discovered by a national antiquities mission in 1982, is one of the most important archaeological hills in Syria and it is one of the unique ruins in the Levant, which represents the Aramean civilization in Syria, where the Arameans built it during the first millennium BC.
Only the armed Islamic militias affiliated with the Turkish occupation and the Muslim Brotherhood can steal this important historical monument, and the huge size of the statue makes it impossible to move it from the site except by special machines.
Several photos documented the Turkish occupation forces and Islamic militias bulldozing the archaeological hill in “Ain Dara”, which includes the basaltic statue and turned it into a military site.
