FBI warns art dealers: ISIL loots antiquities from the Middle East

The FBI has warned American art dealers to be cautious when purchasing antiquities from the Middle East, as there is evidence that collectors have recently been offered items looted in Iraq and Syria by members of the Islamic State (ISIL), reports the Patria news agency.

The theft and sale of historical artifacts from occupied areas in Iraq and Syria has become a source of funding for the militant movement, raising concerns that these items could appear on the Western market, the FBI emphasizes in a statement.

"We have received credible reports that U.S. citizens have been offered cultural heritage items that we believe were recently stolen in Iraq and Syria," said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, chief of the FBI's Art Theft and Trafficking Prevention Unit.

She called on art and antique dealers to exercise extra vigilance when verifying import documents and the provenance of offered items. "What we want to say is - do not allow these items to become objects of trade because you are potentially supporting terrorism," she added.

ISIL has destroyed many buildings of invaluable cultural and historical importance in Iraq and Syria, and recently released footage of the destruction of a Roman temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.  Experts suspect that many items and some reliefs and statues have been "dismantled" into smaller pieces so that Sunni extremists can transport them more easily when attempting to sell them on the black market for art, writes Index.