العراق منجم من الآثار يتعرّض إلى النهب والتنقيب الجائر والتخريب - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Wassim Bassem

Wassim Bassem

مارس 24, 2016

Recovered artifacts are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad July 15, 2015. The U.S. handed back to Iraq on Wednesday antiquities it said it had seized in a raid on Islamic State fighters in Syria, saying the haul was proof the militants were funding their war by smuggling ancient treasures. The Iraqi relics were captured by U.S. special forces in an operation in May against an Islamic State commander known as Abu Sayyaf. They included ancient cylindrical stamps, pottery, metallic bracelets and ot

Iraq struggles to stop antiquities smuggling

Adnan Abu Zeed

People stand on the steps of the Ziggurat of Ur ruins near Nassiriya, 300 km (186 miles) southeast of Baghdad, January 23, 2014. Ur's palaces and temples lie in ruins, but its hulking Ziggurat still dominates the desert flatlands of what is now southern Iraq, as it has for millennia. British archaeologists are now back in the area despite the insecurity in Iraq that had kept them - and all but the most adventurous tourists - away from one of the world's oldest cities. Picture taken January 23, 2014. To matc

Archaeological excavations in Iraq continue despite security chaos

Adnan Abu Zeed

Staff members at Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs work around crates of looted Iraqi antiquities returned by the United States, ahead of a handover ceremony at the ministry in the capital Baghdad, on Aug. 3, 2021.

Iraq recovers thousands of smuggled artifacts for national museum

Adnan Abu Zeed

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SALAM FARAJ
An Iraqi man walks at the archaeological site of Babylon, south of Baghdad, on April 25, 2012. Babylon's Hanging Gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but heritage appears to be no match for Iraq's booming oil industry in a dispute over a new pipeline. AFP PHOTO / ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/GettyImages)

Babylon awaits tourists' return

Adnan Abu Zeed