The Manhattan District Attorney's office has returned over $5 million worth of ancient artifacts to Syria, marking a significant step in its ongoing efforts to recover stolen cultural property. The items, which include a funerary relief and 14 mosaics, were allegedly smuggled by Georges Lotfi, a Lebanese antiquities dealer with an active arrest warrant in New York and an Interpol red notice from 2023. The return was announced on Wednesday, September 23, by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who stated that the artifacts were looted during the time when the Islamic State controlled parts of Syria and trafficked antiquities. Among the returned items is a funerary relief carved from monumental stone, which was taken from the ancient site of Palmyra. This site, a UNESCO World Heritage location, was heavily damaged during the conflict in Syria. Also included are 14 mosaics looted from a Roman villa in Syria. One of these mosaics is described as a large section of a floor dating back to the third century BCE, depicting a mythological scene involving the goddess Telethe, Eros, Aphrodite, and the Three Graces. The mosaic was created using hundreds of small colored stone pieces known as "tesserae." The restitution campaign has been extensive, with thirteen of the returned items previously seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), a major cultural institution in New York. Since 2017, the Met has recovered 402 antiquities valued at nearly $99 million. Additionally, four of the returned artifacts belonged to Michael Steinhardt, one of the world’s largest private collectors of ancient art. Steinhardt was required by a judicial agreement in 2021 to return 180 antiquities valued at $70 million. New York has long been a global hub for the trade of antiquities, with its financial and artistic institutions, including auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's, playing a central role. Since 2017, the Manhattan District Attorney's international antiquities trafficking unit has recovered more than 6,400 cultural treasures, including rare books, works of art, and antiquities, valued at $495 million. Over 6,200 of these items have been returned to 40 countries, and 18 individuals have been convicted for related crimes.