(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Iraq celebrated late on Wednesday the return of hundreds of historical artefacts, from an ancient Assyrian statue to a 20th century presidential tea set, which was looted, lost or loaned abroad over recent decades.
The recovery of the 800 items from museums, universities and auction houses in the United States, Italy and Jordan marks a small victory for Iraqi authorities struggling to protect their heritage from theft and destruction by Islamic State fighters.
The hardline Islamist militants have taken over some of the world's richest archaeological sites in northern Iraq, home to Assyrian cities dating back 2,700 years and the Graeco-Roman era desert complex of Hatra.
Government ministers attending a ceremony, spearheaded by Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari and Tourism Minister Adel Shirshab, to mark their return called for greater international help to protect Iraq's antiquities, saying the scale of the threat was unprecedented.
More than three months after Islamic State fighters released video footage of them smashing statues and carvings at Mosul museum and the ancient sites of Hatra, Nimrud and Nineveh.
Shirshab told reporters that footage showing destruction at the sites was deliberately put out to obscure Islamic State fighters' real aim. "Many of these antiquities were stolen to fund this terrorist group," he said.
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