A gold coin featuring Emperor Hadrian Augustus Caesar is shown in this handout, part of four ancient Syrian artifacts the U.S. Government believes were trafficked by Islamic State, U.S. State Department officials said December 15, 2016. Courtesy of U.S. State Dept/Handout via REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is suing to recover four ancient Syrian artifacts it believes were trafficked by Islamic State, U.S. officials said on Thursday, a tiny fraction of the plundered antiquities likely to have passed through the jihadist group's hands.
Islamic State used the mayhem of war to establish a lucrative trade in stolen relics dug up from the territory it controlled in Syria and Iraq, which includes remnants of some of the world's oldest and most culturally rich civilizations, according to archaeological experts.
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