"“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)