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Ancient sculptures and other artefacts have been removed from Syria's National Museum in the capital, sources confirm.

The theft was found on Monday, when museum workers allegedly found that an entrance had been forced from the interior.

The multiple taken statues were marble creations and traced back to the Roman period, one official stated to the news agency.

Cultural heritage officials said it had initiated an inquiry to determine the "details surrounding the theft of a number of items", and that steps had been enacted to strengthen protection and monitoring systems.

The director of national security in the Damascus region, Security Chief Atkeh, was cited by the state-run Sana news agency as declaring that security forces were examining the theft, which he said had targeted several "historical artifacts and valuable objects".

He added that guards at the facility and additional people were being interviewed.

The National Museum, which was created in the early twentieth century, contains the primary archaeological collection in Syria.

It contains clay cuneiform tablets dating back to the 14th Century BC from historical site, where proof of the earliest complete alphabet was discovered; 1st and 2nd Century AD Greco-Roman sculptures from the ancient city, a significant historical locations of the ancient world; and a 3rd Century AD religious building that was built at another archaeological site.

The facility was forced to close in the early 2010s, a year after the beginning of the destructive conflict. Most of the artifacts was evacuated and kept at undisclosed sites to safeguard them.

It began limited operations in 2018 and returned to normal in the beginning of the year, a month after opposition groups removed President Bashar al-Assad.

Every one of Syria's Unesco World Heritage sites were damaged or partially destroyed during the internal struggle.

The militant faction demolished multiple religious structures and other structures at Palmyra, stating that they were un-Islamic. Unesco denounced the destruction as a war crime.

Many historical objects were also lost or stolen from dig sites and museums.