The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today, Friday, that Iraq had received artifacts dating back to the Assyrian civilization from Switzerland.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Within the framework of the diplomacy to recover smuggled Iraqi antiquities launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fouad Hussein received three very valuable Iraqi antiquities, dating back to the ancient Assyrian civilization, from Swiss Minister of Internal Affairs Elisabeth Bohm Schneider.

During the ceremony of receiving the artifacts, according to the statement, the minister expressed his thanks to "the Swiss government for the cooperation it has shown in order to recover this Iraqi cultural heritage," stressing that "the ministry is striving to return the antiquities to Iraq."

The statement indicated that "the three pieces are a statue of the Assyrian sun god, and two murals dating back to the Assyrian era BC," pointing out that "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had received thousands of artifacts from several countries dating back to the Mesopotamian civilization, as it had received dozens of artifacts from the Swiss government during the past two years."