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Ancient statues and additional items have been stolen from Syria's National Museum in Damascus, sources confirm.

The burglary was found on the start of the week, when staff allegedly found that one of the museum's doors had been forced from the inside.

The multiple taken pieces were crafted from marble and traced back to the ancient Roman times, an authority told the news agency.

Cultural heritage officials said it had opened an investigation to identify the "details surrounding the theft of a group of items", and that steps had been taken to improve security and monitoring systems.

The head of national security in the capital area, Security Chief Atkeh, was cited by the official media as declaring that authorities were investigating the robbery, which he said had affected several "archaeological statues and valuable objects".

He added that guards at the museum and other persons were being interrogated.

The Damascus Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, houses the primary historical artifacts in the country.

It includes clay cuneiform tablets tracing back to the Bronze Age from historical site, where evidence of the earliest linguistic system was uncovered; early centuries CE ancient art from historical site, a significant ancient sites of the historical period; and a third century synagogue that was established at another archaeological site.

The institution was forced to close in the early 2010s, twelve months after the beginning of the devastating civil war. Most of the collection was evacuated and stored at secret locations to protect them.

It began limited operations in 2018 and completely reopened in early this year, a month after opposition groups removed President Bashar al-Assad.

Each of the six of nationally recognized sites were affected or partly ruined during the conflict.

The militant faction demolished multiple ancient buildings and historical sites at the archaeological site, asserting that they were against their beliefs. Unesco denounced the demolition as a war crime.

Numerous cultural items were also damaged or taken from historical locations and collections.