Syria’s Opposition-led Govt. Bars Circulation of New 5,000 Lira Banknote

A Syrian official in Damascus holds the new banknote (EPA)
A Syrian official in Damascus holds the new banknote (EPA)
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Syria’s Opposition-led Govt. Bars Circulation of New 5,000 Lira Banknote

A Syrian official in Damascus holds the new banknote (EPA)
A Syrian official in Damascus holds the new banknote (EPA)

Demand for meats and some vegetable varieties has sharply dropped in northwestern regions of Syria, where refugee families scattered across camps are ailed by a crippling economic crisis, skyrocketing unemployment, poor humanitarian aid and a high population density.

The opposition-led Syrian Interim Government has officially barred the circulation of the new 5,000 lira banknote, the largest denomination in the country, issued by the Central Bank of Syria (CBS) in areas under its control.

It is noteworthy that opposition authorities had also prohibited the circulation of the smaller 2,000 lira bill which was floated in 2017.

Signed by the head of the opposition government, Abdulrahman Mustafa, the order to outlaw dealing with the fresh bill was based on recommendations made by the finance and economy minister.

The ban was also backed by a decision from the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

More so, the Syrian Interim Government has officially made the Turkish lira the currency of choice in areas under its control.

Switching to the Turkish lira has lead prices of basic goods in Idlib province and its countryside to rise.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate of the Syrian lira against Turkish lira reached 395, while the exchange rate of the Syrian lira against the US dollar reached 2,930.

“For more than 15 days, my children have not eaten vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini and potatoes, and meat has become just a dream for many displaced Syrian families in the displacement camps here,” an internally displaced refugee from the western countryside of Hama, who lives now in al-Khalifa camp in the town of Armanaz in northern Idlib countryside, told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“We rely on the availability of certain materials such as cracked wheat, rice, lentils and chickpeas, which are usually found within the food baskets given out to families in this camp,” they explained.

“Everyone suffers poverty in general and only few can afford buying vegetables and meat for their home or tent,” they added, blaming unemployment and displacement for generating extreme poverty.

“There are many reasons for this situation that we are living in, the most important of which is the lack of job opportunities for young people and the displacement.”

“One meal for the average family may cost approximately 20 TL, equivalent to 7,000 Syrian liras,” the Observatory quoted the refugee as saying.



Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.  

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.  

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other armed groups.  

Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".  

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.  

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.  

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.  

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.  

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.  

- 'Room to pressure Hamas' -  

Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, "Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost", albeit with some "red lines".  

"And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's position is that they should dismantle themselves," he said.  

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas's capacity to fight or govern, something the group has rejected.  

But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu's government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier's hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.  

It gives Netanyahu "more room to pressure Hamas", Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump "prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he's leaving the field open to Netanyahu... as long as the ceasefire is maintained".  

- 'Held onto hope' -

Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.  

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.  

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.  

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook late Tuesday following Hamas's announcement.  

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains.  

"We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.  

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges.