Why Syrian antiquities are flooding Facebook Marketplace. Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK. Fri, June 13, 2025 at 1:34 AM UTC. 3 min read.

Ancient treasures pillaged from conflict zones in the Middle East are being offered for sale on Facebook, researchers say, including items that may have been looted by Islamic State militants.

Now there are at least 90 Facebook groups, most in Arabic, connected to the illegal trade in Middle Eastern antiquities, with tens of thousands of members, he said.

The treasures are being sold online, primarily through Facebook Marketplace. “When the regime fell, we saw a huge spike on the ground,” Amr al-Azm, co-director of Athar, told The Guardian.

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Home; Crime; under the radar Why Syrian antiquities are flooding Facebook Marketplace. Looting of ancient treasures has surged since the fall of Assad, and finds a quick market online ...

War-torn countries are having their cultural heritage destroyed with antiquities being looted and sold to generate money. In some cases, the plunder may constitute a war crime. Instability in ...

For sale on Facebook: ‘Loot to order’ antiquities from war zones As conflict destroyed ancient sites in the Middle East, opportunists turned to Facebook to buy and sell looted antiquities.