BEIRUT: Jewish artifacts, together with historic parchment torahs from one of the most world's oldest synagogues, have gone lacking from the Syrian capital amid the tumult of ongoing civil warfare, with some valuable items reportedly surfacing out of the country.
Activists say the artifacts, moved from the now-destroyed Jobar Synagogue in Damascus' japanese Ghouta suburb when it was once taken via rebels, were allegedly put into secure retaining to keep away from theft and harm in 2013, but twice since then local officers have discovered some are lacking.
The major lacking cache, they say, contained torahs written on gazelle leather-based as well as tapestries and chandeliers, and was once given to a military via a neighborhood council for safekeeping when rebels surrendered the group to govt forces previous this year. That group, the Islamist-inspired Failaq al-Rahman brigade, later said that it was once no longer in possession of the items after the council arrived at a brand new rise up base in Syria's north after evacuating previous this year.
Another set of objects seems to had been stolen via a Syrian mum or dad entrusted via the local council to cover the items in his house. The guy, who officers involved declined to name, disappeared with the artifacts in 2014 earlier than some allegedly resurfaced in Turkey.
Activists say antiquities theft is rife in Syria, and some even forged doubt over whether the lacking items, together with the dear torahs, were even unique works.
"Some of the items that went missing in 2014 and this year have started surfacing now in Turkey," said an activist who lived close to the synagogue his entire existence till fleeing the area in March after a crushing govt offensive. The guy, who is going via the identify of Hassan al-Dimashqi, said the following govt airstrikes and bombardment destroyed most of the synagogue and the encompassing group, even though one of the construction's pillars remain standing.
The synagogue, often referred to as Eliyahu Hanavi, is one of the few Jewish puts of worship in Syria that was once functioning till shortly earlier than battle began in March 2011. Residents of the group take into account how lower than a dozen Jews, maximum of them over 50, came quietly as soon as per week to hope.
Videos and images from the synagogue taken earlier than the warfare show a chief corridor of arches covered with seats and tapestries. Chandeliers and lanterns hang from the ceiling as well as a marble stone with writing in Arabic, Hebrew and Latin.
During a consult with via an Associated Press photographer to the synagogue in January 2000, Youssef Jajati, a Jewish community leader in Syria on the time, confirmed the torahs stored in a silver container inside a cabinet.
Al-Dimashqi said that for months after rebels seized the group in 2013, the synagogue was once protected via the main local power in Jobar, known on the time because the Haroun al-Rashid Brigade. Later that year local officers shaped a committee that decided to drain the construction and conceal its contents, he added.
Some local officers say the man who disappeared in 2014 reached Europe and the artifacts he took ended up in Israel, in step with al-Dimashqi, even though his ultimate fate and that of the antiquities remain unknown.
The whereabouts of the items entrusted with Failaq al-Rahman have no longer been verified, even though al-Dimashqi and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a warfare observe, say one of the pieces, together with carpets, chandeliers and ancient scripts, have surfaced in Turkey.
Turkish state media reported in May that authorities had detained 5 people in the country's northwest who were trying to sell two old Torahs for eight million Turkish lira ($1.7 million). It said the manuscripts were written on gazelle leather-based.
Maamoun Abdul-Karim, who till not too long ago was once Syria's director-general of antiquities and museums, has publicly steered the Turks to ensure the manuscripts' authenticity. In the 1990s, rumors circulated in Damascus that the originals were stolen, switched with copies, and smuggled to Israel, he added.
Failaq al-Rahman has denied having any role in the artifacts' disappearance, challenging accusers to present proof that might show otherwise. Meanwhile two officers from Jobar's Local Council, which had to start with organized the hiding away of the artifacts, refused to speak to the AP, fearing for their protection.
In the Middle Ages, Syria was once house to one of the most biggest Jewish settlements on this planet, with maximum dwelling in the Damascus space. The community dates again to Elijah's Damascus sojourn nearly 3,000 in the past, but Jewish existence in point of fact blossomed in the town after 1099, when Christian armies conquered Jerusalem in the First Crusade and massacred town's inhabitants. Historians say 50,000 Jews fled to Damascus, making almost one in 3 Damascenes Jewish almost in a single day. Some become govt ministers and advisers, and the community grew to around 100,000 via the flip of the 20th century.
Tens of hundreds of Jews fled following Israel's introduction in 1948, while others held in Syria towards their will finally emigrated after they were allowed to when Middle East peace talks began in the 1990s.
Syria has accused Israel, with whom it has been in a state of warfare for 70 years, of stealing the artifacts with the help of Turkey, a more moderen enemy. Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Ja'afari, publicized the accusation with a letter in March, pronouncing the two international locations' intelligence services worked with the rebels to smuggle them to Istanbul, the place professionals showed them as "extremely valuable," then New York.
Israel denies involvement and accuses Syria of trying to distract world attention clear of the civil warfare, the place the Jewish state has intervened with a number of strikes that experience killed Syrian troops.
Activists say the artifacts, moved from the now-destroyed Jobar Synagogue in Damascus' japanese Ghouta suburb when it was once taken via rebels, were allegedly put into secure retaining to keep away from theft and harm in 2013, but twice since then local officers have discovered some are lacking.
The major lacking cache, they say, contained torahs written on gazelle leather-based as well as tapestries and chandeliers, and was once given to a military via a neighborhood council for safekeeping when rebels surrendered the group to govt forces previous this year. That group, the Islamist-inspired Failaq al-Rahman brigade, later said that it was once no longer in possession of the items after the council arrived at a brand new rise up base in Syria's north after evacuating previous this year.
Another set of objects seems to had been stolen via a Syrian mum or dad entrusted via the local council to cover the items in his house. The guy, who officers involved declined to name, disappeared with the artifacts in 2014 earlier than some allegedly resurfaced in Turkey.
Activists say antiquities theft is rife in Syria, and some even forged doubt over whether the lacking items, together with the dear torahs, were even unique works.
"Some of the items that went missing in 2014 and this year have started surfacing now in Turkey," said an activist who lived close to the synagogue his entire existence till fleeing the area in March after a crushing govt offensive. The guy, who is going via the identify of Hassan al-Dimashqi, said the following govt airstrikes and bombardment destroyed most of the synagogue and the encompassing group, even though one of the construction's pillars remain standing.
The synagogue, often referred to as Eliyahu Hanavi, is one of the few Jewish puts of worship in Syria that was once functioning till shortly earlier than battle began in March 2011. Residents of the group take into account how lower than a dozen Jews, maximum of them over 50, came quietly as soon as per week to hope.
Videos and images from the synagogue taken earlier than the warfare show a chief corridor of arches covered with seats and tapestries. Chandeliers and lanterns hang from the ceiling as well as a marble stone with writing in Arabic, Hebrew and Latin.
During a consult with via an Associated Press photographer to the synagogue in January 2000, Youssef Jajati, a Jewish community leader in Syria on the time, confirmed the torahs stored in a silver container inside a cabinet.
Al-Dimashqi said that for months after rebels seized the group in 2013, the synagogue was once protected via the main local power in Jobar, known on the time because the Haroun al-Rashid Brigade. Later that year local officers shaped a committee that decided to drain the construction and conceal its contents, he added.
Some local officers say the man who disappeared in 2014 reached Europe and the artifacts he took ended up in Israel, in step with al-Dimashqi, even though his ultimate fate and that of the antiquities remain unknown.
The whereabouts of the items entrusted with Failaq al-Rahman have no longer been verified, even though al-Dimashqi and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a warfare observe, say one of the pieces, together with carpets, chandeliers and ancient scripts, have surfaced in Turkey.
Turkish state media reported in May that authorities had detained 5 people in the country's northwest who were trying to sell two old Torahs for eight million Turkish lira ($1.7 million). It said the manuscripts were written on gazelle leather-based.
Maamoun Abdul-Karim, who till not too long ago was once Syria's director-general of antiquities and museums, has publicly steered the Turks to ensure the manuscripts' authenticity. In the 1990s, rumors circulated in Damascus that the originals were stolen, switched with copies, and smuggled to Israel, he added.
Failaq al-Rahman has denied having any role in the artifacts' disappearance, challenging accusers to present proof that might show otherwise. Meanwhile two officers from Jobar's Local Council, which had to start with organized the hiding away of the artifacts, refused to speak to the AP, fearing for their protection.
In the Middle Ages, Syria was once house to one of the most biggest Jewish settlements on this planet, with maximum dwelling in the Damascus space. The community dates again to Elijah's Damascus sojourn nearly 3,000 in the past, but Jewish existence in point of fact blossomed in the town after 1099, when Christian armies conquered Jerusalem in the First Crusade and massacred town's inhabitants. Historians say 50,000 Jews fled to Damascus, making almost one in 3 Damascenes Jewish almost in a single day. Some become govt ministers and advisers, and the community grew to around 100,000 via the flip of the 20th century.
Tens of hundreds of Jews fled following Israel's introduction in 1948, while others held in Syria towards their will finally emigrated after they were allowed to when Middle East peace talks began in the 1990s.
Syria has accused Israel, with whom it has been in a state of warfare for 70 years, of stealing the artifacts with the help of Turkey, a more moderen enemy. Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Ja'afari, publicized the accusation with a letter in March, pronouncing the two international locations' intelligence services worked with the rebels to smuggle them to Istanbul, the place professionals showed them as "extremely valuable," then New York.
Israel denies involvement and accuses Syria of trying to distract world attention clear of the civil warfare, the place the Jewish state has intervened with a number of strikes that experience killed Syrian troops.
Jewish artifacts disappear from Damascus in fog of Syria war
![Jewish artifacts disappear from Damascus in fog of Syria war]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
June 17, 2018
Rating:
