UK returns cursed Babylonian stone treasure looted during Iraq War

1 / 6
A 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia, said to place a curse on anyone who tries to destroy it, is to be flown home from Britain after being looted during the Iraq War. (British Museum)
2 / 6
Dr. St John Simpson making a speech during the British Museum handover. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)
3 / 6
Dr. St John Simpson with Iraqi Ambassador Salih Husain Ali during the British Museum handover. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)
4 / 6
Curator Jonathan Taylor discussing the 3,000-year-old Babylonian tablet. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)
5 / 6
The 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)
6 / 6
The 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)
Updated 20 March 2019
Follow

UK returns cursed Babylonian stone treasure looted during Iraq War

LONDON: A 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia, said to place a curse on anyone who tries to destroy it, is to be flown home from Britain after being looted during the Iraq War.
British Museum director Hartwig Fischer handed over the priceless work to Iraqi Ambassador Salih Husain Ali during a ceremony on Tuesday after museum experts had verified its authenticity.
“It is a very important piece of Iraq’s cultural heritage,” said Fischer, praising the “extraordinary and tireless work” of border officials.
The attempt to smuggle the piece into Britain was thwarted by the UK Border Force at London’s Heathrow airport in May 2012.




Dr. St John Simpson with Iraqi Ambassador Salih Husain Ali during the British Museum handover. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)

It had been declared at customs as a carved stone made in Turkey and valued at $330. But when the package was opened it caught the attention of a Border Force officer who recognized that the declaration was false.
After a long investigation against the importer, the case was resolved in favor of Iraq, with coordination from the British Museum, which acts as the specialist adviser on cultural property for the British government.
“They seized this item when they saw it at a British port and several years later, after a lot of legal work, we are able to effect this transfer,” said Michael Ellis, Britain’s Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism. “It’s a very important and significant moment.”
It is still not clear how the object was taken out of Iraq, “but we believe it was probably stolen about 15 years ago during troubles in Iraq,” Ellis added.




Dr. St John Simpson making a speech during the British Museum handover. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)

Ambassador Ali said the handover came after continued cooperation between the Iraqi embassy in London and the British authorities, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British Museum and British police.
“As a representative of the Iraqi government, I am looking to receive more handovers in the future if any Iraqi antiquities are found here,” Ambassador Ali told Arab News.

Dr. St. John Simpson, curator at the British Museum, also told Arab News that they "identified it very quickly as a very important inscribed Mesopotamian document of the 12th century B.C. of known king Nebuchadnezzar I, and that this object must have come from illegal excavations fairly recently in Iraq.”
He said from the contents of the inscription it appeared the piece came from Nippur, which was a big ancient Sumerian and Babylonian site in southern Iraq. It was heavily looted in 2003 and the museum believes the object came from that phase of destruction of a known archaeological site.
British minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt, said: “Iraq’s rich civilization, culture and history are globally important and sit at the core of its contemporary national identity. I am therefore delighted that the UK Border Force was able to retrieve the illegally trafficked kudurru and that today we can repatriate it, to sit proudly in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.”




Curator Jonathan Taylor discussing the 3,000-year-old Babylonian tablet. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)

The kudurru is a ceremonial stone tablet recording the legal gifting of land by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar I to one of his subjects in return for distinguished service, according to curator Jonathan Taylor.
On one side are depictions of the great Babylonian gods Enlil and Marduk, and on the other, legal text written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet.
Taylor told Arab News: “What had happened a generation before King Nebuchadnezzar I was that the old dynasty had been swept away, the enemies had invaded, they captured the king, they looted the cities, they also looted the temples and they took away the statue of the city god Marduk, which meant not only the statue had gone but the god Marduk himself had been taken away and they no longer had his protection.”
Taylor added that the inscription says that the great god Enlil, the father of the gods, came up with a plan to save the day, so he created Nebuchadnezzar as the avenger of the Babylonians and the brave king marched into enemy territory, defeated the Elamite, took the statue back, brought it to Babylon and order was restored.
“It is such an important moment in Babylonian history. Forever after the Babylonians told stories about this great, brave king who brought Marduk back, and in response they created the Babylonian epic of creation, which tells about how Marduk was appointed to defeat the forces of chaos and to put order into the universe. So, every spring at the new year festival they recite this epic of creation.”
Taylor said the object also carried “terrible curses” for anyone trying to claim the land or damage the tablet.
“The gift is designed to last forever and there are a list of curses or protective formulas so if anyone should dispute that the gift was made or if they try and hide it, bury it in the dirt, try to destroy it with fire, smash it or get somebody who does not know any better to do it on their behalf, then the gods will curse them in a variety of really horrible ways. So, it is to protect forever this gift in recognition of this act of bravery,” said Taylor.




The 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)

Fewer than 200 such objects are known to exist, and the one handed over on Tuesday was broken and eroded, presenting a problem for sleuths trying to establish its history.
“The basic identification was quite straightforward,” said Taylor. “More difficult was tying down exactly who the king was and what the circumstances were. For that we needed to read the inscription and it was quite worn, there was a lot of damage in the middle of the text. It was old-fashioned bookwork, but we had a few clues.”
Ellis said: “It’s more than just a carved stone... It is a testament to the remarkable history of the Republic of Iraq.”
This is the second handover so far on such a significant level. Eight antiquities were given back to Iraq seven months ago from the British Museum and it is investigating other cases of material coming from Iraq that will have to be returned.
“We would like to reboot our bilateral relations in many fields not just on the humanities side, but we are getting good support from our friends and through the global coalition to defeat terrorism in Iraq, especially Daesh,” said Ali.
Burt added: “This latest repatriation, in conjunction with the British Museum, is just one example of the UK’s ongoing commitment to helping Iraq create for itself a prosperous and secure future following the fall of Daesh; a goal it is well on the way to achieving.”
The initiative is part of a wider Iraqi scheme between the British Museum and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq (SBAH) in Baghdad.




The 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia. (AN Photo/Sarah Glubb)

The scheme was initiated by Jonathan Tubb, keeper at the museum, in 2015 following the dreadful destruction of places such as Nimrud, Nineveh and Hatra, all in the Mosul region.
“It was quite clear that we couldn’t do anything on the ground, I mean nobody could get into that region and it would have been foolish to do so,” Tubb told Arab News.
The scheme introduced a constructive method of training SBAH employees in all the techniques they would need to confront the aftermath of the destruction, enabling them to work methodically and systematically from day one to record and excavate what was left.
They are trained in surveying, photographic and field archaeology techniques, as well as drone technology and have two excavation projects in Iraq, one in the north in Iraqi Kurdistan and one in the south at ancient Girsu (modern Tello).
“By the end of this scheme of which the first phase will be finished next April, we will have trained 50 employees altogether and they will go back to their various departments and train other people so there will be a drip-down effect of the expertise,” said Tubb.
“We are delighted to say that because of our training, several of the participants have been now appointed to senior positions within the state board and have been given responsibility for assessing the damages at these sites.”


Israel army tells north Gaza residents to leave ‘combat zone’

Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

Israel army tells north Gaza residents to leave ‘combat zone’

“For your safety, move south immediately,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X
The latest call follows a series of evacuation orders for large swathes of the Gaza Strip’s north

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military called for the evacuation of several areas in northern Gaza on Thursday, again warning that Palestinian militants were launching rockets from there.
“We inform you that the designated area is considered a dangerous combat zone. For your safety, move south immediately,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X along with a map of the area in Gaza City’s northwest.
The latest call follows a series of evacuation orders for large swathes of the Gaza Strip’s north, where Israeli forces have intensified their operations since early October.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told reporters that “we are isolating Gazan civilians away from Hamas terrorists so we can get to the terrorists” still in that area.
“Right now, there are residents of the northern part of Gaza who have been evacuated to safer places,” he added.

Greek tanker crippled by Houthi militants starts oil transfer

he Sounion caught fire and lost power after being attacked on August 21 off the coast of Hodeidah. (Aspides)
Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Greek tanker crippled by Houthi militants starts oil transfer

ATHENS: A Greek oil tanker crippled by Yemen’s Houthi militants and towed to avert an environmental disaster began transferring its cargo of over a million barrels on Thursday, the state-run ANA news agency said.
The Sounion caught fire and lost power after being attacked on August 21 off the coast of Hodeidah, a Houthi-held port city.
The following day its 25-strong crew was rescued. The rebels claimed to have detonated charges on the ship’s deck, sparking new fires.
ANA said the Sounion had begun transferring its cargo of 150,000 tons of crude to another tanker, Delta Blue, at a “safe anchorage” in the port of Suez.
“The vessel is at Suez, and as it’s at a safe anchorage, we are no longer monitoring it,” a source at Greece’s merchant marine ministry told AFP.
Citing ministry sources, ANA said the operation began on Thursday and will last between three and four weeks.
In September, EU maritime safety body Aspides said the Sounion was not under its protection at the time of the attack.
The ship’s original course “was a bit of a mystery,” the ministry source told AFP. “We were told it was heading from Iraq to Singapore. If that were the case, how did it end up in the Red Sea?“
The operation to tow the vessel to safety in September required a tugboat escorted by three frigates, helicopters and a special forces team, ANA said.
Had the vessel broken up or exploded, it could have caused an oil spill four times larger than that caused by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 off Alaska, experts had warned.
The EU naval force was formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea from attacks by Houthis.
The Houthis have waged a campaign against international shipping to show solidarity with Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
They have been firing drones and missiles at ships in the vital commercial route, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the US and Britain.
The United States, with the support of allies led by Britain, has carried out repeated air strikes on rebel bases in Yemen.


Lebanon says 3 killed, UN peacekeepers wounded in Israel strikes

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of Sidon.
Updated 37 min 37 sec ago
Follow

Lebanon says 3 killed, UN peacekeepers wounded in Israel strikes

  • Three Lebanese soldiers manning the checkpoint were also wounded alongside members of the Malaysian contingent of UNIFIL, according to the army

SIDON: The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike on a vehicle near a checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon on Thursday killed three people and wounded troops and UN peacekeepers.
“The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint,” the main northern entrance to Sidon, the army said.
With the exception of a few limited strikes, Sidon, a Sunni Muslim-majority city, has been relatively spared the deadly air raids targeting south Lebanon in Israel’s war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
The strike killed three people, all of them passengers in the targeted vehicle, the army said.
Three Lebanese soldiers manning the checkpoint were also wounded alongside members of the Malaysian contingent of UNIFIL, according to the army.
The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said a “convoy bringing newly-arrived peacekeepers to south Lebanon was passing Sidon when a drone strike occurred nearby.”
“Five peacekeepers were lightly injured and treated by the Lebanese Red Cross on the spot. They will continue to their posts,” it said, urging warring parties “to avoid actions putting peacekeepers or civilians in danger.”
UNIFIL has thousands of peacekeepers
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said a UNIFIL vehicle was on the “same lane” during the strike, which left UN peacekeepers with “minor injuries.”
An AFP correspondent in the area saw the charred, mangled remains of the targeted vehicle which was only a few meters away from an army checkpoint.
The correspondent saw UNIFIL peacekeepers gathered on the sidewalk near the checkpoint, some of them bloodied and wounded after the raid, as paramedics attended to their injuries.
The UNIFIL convoy comprised a number of busses, the correspondent said.
Israeli raids have intensified in recent weeks on Haret Saida, a densely-populated Sidon suburb that has a significant population of Shiite Muslims.
Israel has also increasingly launched targeted strikes on vehicles. A woman was killed Thursday in an Israeli strike targeting a car on a key road linking the capital Beirut with the Bekaa Valley and Syria, a security source told AFP.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported earlier that “an enemy drone targeted a car in Araya,” adding that the strike left the route blocked to vehicular traffic.
The highway links Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus, through the Lebanese mountains.


Hezbollah calls for US action, not words, as Trump reclaims White House

Updated 55 min 11 sec ago
Follow

Hezbollah calls for US action, not words, as Trump reclaims White House

  • “It might be a change in the party who is in power, but when it comes to Israel, they have more or less the same policy,” Moussawi told Reuters
  • “We want to see actions, we want to see decisions taken”

BEIRUT: Hezbollah welcomes any effort to stop the war in Lebanon but does not pin its hopes for a ceasefire on a particular US administration, Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Al-Moussawi said on Thursday when asked about Donald Trump’s election victory.
“It might be a change in the party who is in power, but when it comes to Israel, they have more or less the same policy,” Moussawi told Reuters.
“We want to see actions, we want to see decisions taken,” he said. Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for more than a year, in parallel with the Gaza war, but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon’s south and east and making ground incursions into border villages.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and military assets, while avoiding civilians. Hezbollah and Lebanese officials point to the rising death toll, with more than 3,000 killed, and widespread destruction in the country as evidence that Israel is targeting civilians. US diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, faltered last week ahead of the US election on Tuesday in which former President Donald Trump recaptured the White House.
Moussawi acknowledged the heavy toll of Israeli attacks that have blown apart thousands of buildings, mostly in Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim-dominated south and east and Beirut’s southern suburbs, but said the group’s military capabilities remained strong.
“Our hearts are broken — we are losing very dear lives. This feeling that cannot be punished or brought to international justice is a result of USsupport which renders them immune to accountability,” he said.
“America is a full partner in what’s happening because they can exercise influence to stop this destruction.”
Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American billionaire who is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, said he would be in charge of negotiating with the Lebanese side to reach an agreement to end the war, Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed quoted him as saying this week.
He also said that Trump was aiming to end the war before he took office in January, Al Jadeed reported. Reuters could not immediately reach Boulos.
The Israeli government celebrated Trump’s return to power, saying he was a leader who would support them “unconditionally.”
STRIKE AT ARMY CHECKPOINT
Overnight on Wednesday, Israel carried out a series of strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including at least one strike just tens of meters from Beirut airport’s runways.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamiye said the airport was functioning normally on Thursday.


France sees ‘window’ to end Gaza, Lebanon wars after Trump win

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

France sees ‘window’ to end Gaza, Lebanon wars after Trump win

JERUSALEM: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday in Jerusalem he saw prospects for ending Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon after Donald Trump was elected US president.
“I believe a window has opened for putting an end to the tragedy in which Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region have been immersed since October 7” last year, Barrot told reporters in Jerusalem.
Speaking alongside outgoing Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Barrot cited Trump’s “wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars” as well as Israel’s recent “tactical successes.”
Barrot said he hoped a “diplomatic solution” would emerge “in the coming weeks.”
“Force alone will not be enough to guarantee Israel’s security,” he said, adding that “military success could not be a substitute for a political perspective.”
“It is time to move toward a deal that would allow for the liberation of all hostages, a ceasefire and the mass entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to prepare for the day after.”
Barrot said “Israel has the right to defend itself” but pointed to “colonization,” “humanitarian aid restrictions” and “the continuation of air strikes in north Gaza” as risk factors for Israel’s security.
Barrot is expected to speak with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and his prime minister, Muhammad Mustafa