Terrorism Causes $15bln Damage in Syria

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Local Administration Minister Omar al-Ibrahim Ghalaounji said in comments published in Syrian newspapers on Sunday that the damages worth of $15bln to the public sector were caused between March 2011 and March 2013.He added that they were the result of "terrorist attacks on government buildings and infrastructure", Alalam reported.Former Syrian Planning Minister Abdullah al-Dardari has recently said that the Syrian crisis has cost $60-$80bln in damages to the country’s economy.He stated that the Syria economy has contracted by about 35 percent, compared to the 6 percent annual growth the country enjoyed in the five years before 2011.According to Dardari, the Syrian economy has lost about 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), and there are some 2.5 million unemployed people in Syria today.Syria crisis started as pro-reform protests but with interventions by the United States, UK and their regional and western allies it soon turned to a massive insurgency which took in numerous terrorist groups from all over Europe and the Middle-East to wage one of the bloodiest wars the region has ever experienced.On June 4, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich issued a statement, saying, “We have more than once stated our opinion on this -- foreign weapons are being pumped into an explosive region.”“This is happening very close to Syria, where for more than two years the flames are burning of a devastating conflict,” the statement added.End item/ 149