Macron's visit to Syria marks return of 23 artifacts
Shafaq News- Damascus
France returned 23 Syrian archaeological artifacts that had remained in Paris since 2010, Syria's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
The artifacts, which belong to museums in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, and Palmyra, had been on loan to a Syrian antiquities exhibition at the Arab World Institute in Paris. They could not be returned earlier because Syrian-French relations were suspended during the civil war (2011–2024).
The ministry said that during French President Emmanuel Macron's current visit to Damascus, the two sides agreed to transport the artifacts to Syria aboard the French presidential aircraft. It added that the move reflects cooperation between the two countries and marks the beginning of Syria's broader campaign to recover antiquities held abroad.
بيان صادر عن وزارة الخارجية والمغتربين في الجمهورية العربية السورية pic.twitter.com/inzCkw3Vdt
— وزارة الخارجية والمغتربين السورية (@syrianmofaex) July 7, 2026
