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Damascus Accuses Opposition of Preparing Chemical Attack

Opposition fighters walk on a hill in Jabal al-Arbaeen, which overlooks the northern town of Ariha, the Idlib province May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/Files
Opposition fighters walk on a hill in Jabal al-Arbaeen, which overlooks the northern town of Ariha, the Idlib province May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/Files
    Damascus, London- Asharq Al-Awsat
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Damascus Accuses Opposition of Preparing Chemical Attack

Opposition fighters walk on a hill in Jabal al-Arbaeen, which overlooks the northern town of Ariha, the Idlib province May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/Files
Opposition fighters walk on a hill in Jabal al-Arbaeen, which overlooks the northern town of Ariha, the Idlib province May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/Files

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has accused rebels in Idlib province of preparing a chemical attack and frame it on the country’s army.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry said: "terroristsof the so-called “Tahrir al-Sham", in cooperation with the White Helmets group, supported by their operators, and in coordination with the Turkish regime, are planning to carry out a play using chemical weapons against civilians in Idlib."

SANA quoted an official source at the Foreign Ministry as saying that two tons of chemical substances have been brought to a village over the past two days as part of the preparation for the attack.

The Ministry urged the countries supporting the rebels to stop such “games that have only left civilian victims”.

It also reiterated the government’s stance that the Syrian forces do not possess chemical weapons and have never used them.

“The Syrian Arab Republic will hold the countries which support terrorism, particularly the US, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Turkey responsible for using those toxic materials and killing innocent civilians without any moral deterrent,” the statement added.

The new claim comes as shelling resumed between the Syrian army and the rebels on Wednesday in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Idlib has emerged as the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.

In March, Turkey and Russia brokered a ceasefire between the Syrian forces and opposition groups.

However, clashes and shelling continued between the Syrian army and the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the umbrella group of the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.