Saudi-led coalition deliberately targets historical sites in Yemen for destruction and theft of antiquities, report says

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The Executive Director of ِAl-Hodhod Center for Archaeological Studies, Dr. Fahmy Al-Aghbari, has confirmed that the US-Saudi aggression has for the past seven years deliberately targeted archaeological sites with airstrikes and looting mercenaries.

Al-Aghbari said in a statement to Al-Masirah that the aggression targeted archaeological sites in which there could be no military forces, such as the Dhamar Historical Museum.

He added that the UAE plays a major role in looting Yemeni antiquities, presenting them in as Emirati artifacts, as well as being a corridor for smuggling stolen Yemeni antiquities to deliver them to the Zionist enemy.

He pointed out that the smuggling of Yemeni antiquities had been going on since 2011 and increased in 2015, with the beginning of the aggression and unjust UN resolutions.

He explained that what was monitored of stolen and smuggled antiquities, the US acquired the largest share of them, with more than 2,167 antiquities illegally sold inside the US.

He indicated that the list issued by the center is a starting point for the official judicial authorities to rely on in prosecuting the theft of antiquities.

Earlier, the center stated that more than 4,265 smuggled artifacts were sold in six countries: the US through five auctions, Britain through four auctions, France through 3 auctions, two auctions in the Zionist entity and an auction for Germany and the Netherlands.