Syria's in a spot of bother.
And so is Libya.
On first noticing the article on big losses, I confused Syria for Libya because I'm not familiar with the Middle East, and still had images of burnt out planes stuck in my head.
But it's Libya's Tripoli airport that's been trashed in a week's clash between the Libyan army and an Islamist-led militia.
Report is of 47 (mainly civilian) dead and over 100 wounded.
Not a good place to be for anyone, but it sounds particularly hazardous for foreigners.
UN has pulled its mission and "some countries like the Philippines" have evacuated their citizens. An astounding 13,000 Philippines citizens were mentioned as evacuees in this report - here.
Sounds like there's work to be had in Libya ... if anyone's game.
Back to Syria:
Syria's haemorrhaging in billions and billions of dollars because of the conflict between the government and the Jihadist Islamic State (IS), according to the Now article (here).
Gas production has halved and oil production has been reduced to a fraction of the norm.
The IS has taken over "all the main oil fields" in eastern Syria and is reportedly selling oil to Turkey and to Iraq through middlemen (here).
Oddly, the government seems unperturbed by this and is going ahead with completing a gas production plant ... not far off IS controlled territory.
Without knowing the region, it's hard to guess whether the Syrian government is justified in its confidence.
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Syria - Source - Now - here.
Libya - Source - LAHT - here.
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