Lebanon Returns 337 Artifacts of Different Eras to Iraq

An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanon Returns 337 Artifacts of Different Eras to Iraq

An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture handed over to Iraq on Sunday 337 ancient artifacts that had been on display in a Lebanese museum for years.

The items, which included clay tablets, were returned by Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut.

Murtada told Iraq’s state-run news agency in a Saturday report that a Lebanese committee had been investigating the items since 2018, The Associated Press reported.

The artifacts had been stored most recently at the private Nabu Museum in northern Lebanon. The report gave no further details about the artifacts’ provenance.

“We are celebrating the handing over of 337 artifacts that are of different eras of civilizations in Mesopotamia,” Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon Haider Shyaa Al-Barrak said at the ceremony. This will not be the last handover, he added, without elaborating.

Many of Iraq’s antiquities were looted during the country’s decades of war and instability, mostly since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Iraq’s government has been slowly recovering the plundered antiquities since then. Archaeological sites across the country however continue to be neglected due to lack of funds.

At least half dozen shipments of antiquities and documents have been returned to Iraq’s museum since 2016, according to Iraqi authorities.



Smoke From Canadian Fires Reaches Europe, Says EU Climate Monitor

 This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)
This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)
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Smoke From Canadian Fires Reaches Europe, Says EU Climate Monitor

 This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)
This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

Heavy smoke from intense wildfires in Canada has reached northwestern Europe, the European Union's climate monitoring service said on Tuesday.

The huge plumes are at very high altitude and do not pose an immediate health risk, it said in a statement.

"Smoke originating from the wildfires in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan has been transported across the Atlantic," the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said.

Satellites tracked the smoke in mid-May, with some plumes reaching as far east as Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.

"A second, much larger, smoke plume crossed the Atlantic during the last week of May, reaching northwestern parts of Europe on June 1," CAMS said.

Additional plumes are expected to shade the continent in the coming days.

Wildfire smoke is comprised of gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide, along with water vapor and particle pollution, which can be particularly hazardous to health.

A high concentration of carbon monoxide is expected to pass over northwestern France, including the Paris Basin, on Tuesday.

The high-altitude smoke headed for Europe is not expected to have a significant impact on surface air quality, but is likely to result in hazy skies and reddish-orange sunsets.

Manitoba in central Canada is experiencing its worst start to the fire season in years due to drought, and Saskatchewan to the west declared a state of emergency at the end of May, evacuating thousands of residents.

"Central regions of Canada have experienced a very intense few weeks in terms of wildfire emissions," said Mark Parrington, scientific director at CAMS.

Canadian authorities have forecast a more intense fire season than usual this summer in central and western Canada, due in particular to severe or extreme drought.

Elsewhere, extensive forest fires have been raging in Russia's Far Eastern Federal District since early April, particularly east of Lake Baikal, generating carbon emissions of around 35 million tons, Copernicus reported.