Ma’moun Abdoul-Karim, the director-general of Syria's Antiquities and Museums Directorate, said Sunday that 40 museums have also been demolished and looted during the sweeping insurgency.

He added that the damages top an estimated 2 billion US dollars.

The Syrian official noted that Damascus held some discussions with neighboring countries such as Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon for the of the artifacts.

A Reuters report back in April said theft and shelling have damaged a 2,000 year-old synagogue in Damascus, one of the oldest in the world.

It added that Syria's historic monuments have increasingly become a casualty of the conflict and many ancient markets, mosques and churches across the country are threatened with destruction

It further pointed out that parts of Aleppo's medieval stone-vaulted souk (Bazaar) have been reduced to rubble.