France Returns Artifacts to Syria

News July 9, 2026

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DAMASCUS, SYRIA—According to a Türkiye Today report, Emmanuel Macron, president of France, handed over 23 artifacts to Ahmed Al-Charaa, president of Syria, during a meeting held at the Umayyad Mosque. Loaned to the Arab World Institute in Paris in 2011, the objects were scheduled to be returned in 2014, but the outbreak of civil war in Syria canceled those plans. The collection, including a section of a frieze from the ancient city of Palmyra, will be housed in Syria’s National Museum in Damascus. To read about another artifact from ancient Syria, go to "Model Homes: Sealing the Evidence."

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