Tag: Al-Nusra Front

‘Conflict in Syria could end soon’

President Bashar al-Assad
President Bashar al-Assad

The armed conflict in Syria could be over in a few months if the local population actively helps government troops to restore peace and prevent violence, President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast throughout the Arab world.

According to Assad, the anti-terror campaigns are most successful in those regions with strong public support for the army.

He also said that some of the rebels are continuing to surrender to government forces to try and return to peaceful life or join the fight on the government’s side.

Since the armed conflict began in Syria in March 2011 over 100,000 people have been killed according to UN estimates.

Besides the internal opposition the government forces are fighting a large number of radical Islamist groups such as al-Nusra Front and increasing numbers of foreign mercenarie.

Al-Assad issued a decree Sunday banning the use of foreign currency in commercial transactions, state news agency SANA said.

“It is prohibited to make payments, reimbursements, commercial transactions and any other commercial operation in foreign currency or in precious stones,” SANA quoted the decree as saying.

“The Syrian lira is the only currency” allowed in business and commerce, it added.

Those breaking the law risk jail sentences from between six months to 10 years of hard labour, depending on the sum involved, and will be fined.

The US dollar is the preferred foreign currency in Syria where the lira has lost three quarters of its value against the greenback since the outbreak of the anti-regime uprising more than two years ago.

At the start of the conflict in March 2011 one dollar fetched 50 liras. while a dollar today is worth more than 200 liras.

Dollars have been used in the sale of land, namely in the upscale Damascus suburbs, and by importers who trade in goods such as rice, sugar, textile and electronic equipment.

Who will US really arm in Syria?

alnusraThe US decision to arm the Syrian rebels fighting government troops has sparked feuds among various rebel factions dominated by radical Islamist fighters. As internal schisms among the rebels deepen, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front have reportedly assassinated a large number of officers of the Free Syrian Army.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front is now said to be targeting Free Syrian Army (FSA), but these two share a common goal – to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The rebel ranks met in Istanbul recently, where they could make no type of agreement between themselves. By all accounts this power struggle has been going on for months.

The decision by President Obama and the NATO powers that they will give weapons to the Free Syrian Army probably mean some of those arms will be used to attack Kurds in the northern part of Syria.

Reports say that many FSA fighters are leaving more modern brigades for hard-line groups.

In neighboring Iraq and Lebanon, the Al-Nusra Front has become the lead faction in the opposition. The so-called ‘moderate rebels’ has no clout against the hundreds or thousands, millions or billions – we don’t know – coming from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the American allies in the Persian Gulf.

The Free Syrian army seems to have deposed some of the initial leaders, but rather like the pre-Iraq-War time, we don’t really know. It isn’t stopping the Americans. They seem to know exactly who the Free Syrian Army is, and they have 2,000 marines over the Jordanian border putting in Patriot missiles and getting ready for war. They were flying F-16s over the past 48 hours.

France does not seem to know who the FSA is either, as Paris is saying “no more arms, no more weapons, until we find out who the personnel really are in this rebel movement.”

The US should be bombing Syria not with weapons, but with airlifts of medicine and urgent medical care for all of these millions of refugees.

Syria already had a refugee crisis in the fallout of the Iraq war, and it has its own one now. have reportedly assassinated a large number of officers of the Free Syrian Army. – RT