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Historic sculptures and other artefacts have been taken from the National Museum of Syria in the capital, officials say.

The robbery was discovered on the start of the week, when museum workers reportedly found that one of the museum's doors had been damaged from the inside.

The half-dozen taken statues were made of marble and traced back to the Roman era, an authority informed the Associated Press.

Cultural heritage officials said it had initiated an inquiry to identify the "circumstances surrounding the theft of a number of exhibits", and that actions had been enacted to strengthen safeguarding and monitoring systems.

The head of domestic security in the Damascus region, Security Chief Atkeh, was referenced by the official media as declaring that law enforcement were probing the incident, which he said had targeted several "archaeological statues and rare collectibles".

He continued that museum protectors at the institution and other individuals were being interrogated.

The Damascus Museum, which was founded in the early twentieth century, holds the primary cultural treasures in the country.

It features ancient inscribed tablets originating to the 14th Century BC from historical site, where evidence of the earliest writing system was discovered; Greco-Roman period Greco-Roman sculptures from the ancient city, a significant ancient sites of the ancient world; and a third century synagogue that was established at an ancient location.

The institution was forced to close in 2012, a year after the outbreak of the devastating civil war. The majority of the collection was transferred and stored at secure places to ensure their safety.

It began limited operations in 2018 and completely reopened in early this year, one month after opposition groups removed the Assad regime.

Each of the six of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were harmed or partially destroyed during the conflict.

The IS organization blew up numerous ancient buildings and other structures at the archaeological site, asserting that they were idolatrous. Unesco denounced the destruction as a atrocity.

Countless artefacts were also lost or looted from historical locations and collections.