U.S. officials announced Wednesday the return of 36 stolen antiquities to Syria, with a total value of more than $5 million, after U.S. authorities confiscated them from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a number of antiquities collectors.

The recovered antiquities include a limestone statue weighing more than 450 kilograms, which was smuggled out of the ancient city of Palmyra before the Islamic State terrorist group destroyed large parts of it between 2015 and 2017. It shows a man lying down surrounded by a woman and three children.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that the return of the antiquities confirms that the protection of cultural heritage transcends borders and nationalities, while the head of affairs at the Syrian Embassy in Washington, Mohammad Kanatri, said that the operation shows the ability of the shared commitment to protect the heritage "to build between the two ongoing bridges". Authorities confiscated 13 of the returned items from the Metropolitan Museum, while they confiscated four works from American antiquities collector Michael Steinhardt, who in 2021 returned about 180 stolen items from around the world, with a total value of $70 million.