Lawyers representing the victims of the 1983 bombing of a French cultural institution in Berlin have demanded in court for the confiscation of two golden antiques on loan from the Syrian National Museum and on display in Stuttgart, Spiegel news magazine reported.

The lawyers reportedly hoped the move would place pressure on Damascus to compensate victims of the attack, which a Berlin court found Syria partially responsible for in the year 2000.

The 1983 attack on the Maison de France in Berlin, carried out by associates of left-wing extremist Venezuelan Carlos, killed one and injured 23. The Syrian secret service had reportedly supported the Carlos gang.

The Syrian government denies all responsibility for the bombing, and Syrian diplomats have announced counter-measures if the antique objects are confiscated, Spiegel wrote in an article to appear in its Monday print edition.

The foreign ministry in Berlin was worried that German cultural institutions could suffer under the diplomatic spat, the magazine said.