SUA va restitui Siriei obiecte de artă antice în valoare de peste 5 milioane de dolari

Thirty-six ancient art pieces valued over $5 million were returned to the Syrian government, initiated by the New York District Attorney's office. Among the items is a significant stone funerary relief stolen from Palmyra during ISIS control. The relief and 14 mosaics were illegally transported by Georges Lotfi, a Lebanese pharmacist turned antiquities trafficker. Thirteen of the returned pieces were confiscated from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has recovered 402 antiquities worth nearly $99 million since 2017. New York has been a major center for antiquities trafficking, with efforts to return stolen items ongoing since 2017, resulting in over 6,400 cultural treasures recovered and 18 convictions related to trafficking.