"“War
is good for us,” he says of the community of smugglers that regularly transit
the nearby border. “We buy antiquities cheap, and then sell weapons
expensively.” That business, he says, is about to get better. Fighters allied
with the Free Syrian Army units battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar
Assad have told him that they are developing an association of diggers dedicated
to finding antiquities in order to fund the revolution. “The rebels need
weapons, and antiquities are an easy way to buy them,” says Abu Khaled, who goes
by his nickname in order to protect his identity". (thanks Khodor)