Assad Allies Profit From Food Trade, Reuters Reports. “Using front companies and shipping lines, a discreet commercial and logistical network is now emerging, which aims not only to procure food commodities but to generate big returns for members of Assad’s inner circle,” according to a Reuters exclusive report. The article said that Rami Maklouf, Assad’s cousin and an influential business tycoon, was involved in the trade.

“Key figures in the regime have created front companies and are using shipping lines to secure food supplies into Syria. This is also lucrative business and everyone involved stands to gain from it,” a source told Reuters. For average Syrians who can find food, the cost has more than tripled; in rebel-held areas under siege there’s hardly anything to eat, with reports of children dying of malnutrition.

Destruction Plan for Syria’s Chemical Weapons Under Debate. The U.N.-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is deliberating on a Syrian plan to export its chemical weapons arsenal to Albania, to be destroyed there.

Under a U.S.-Russian deal to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, most of the material would have to be removed from Syria by the end of the year and destroyed by the middle of 2014. Among the challenges: finding a country to take them. Albanians have protested against the idea of taking them into their territory, fearful of the environmental risk and “humiliated” by the suggestion. France could be an alternate destination, according to the BBC.

Western Jihadis Fight Alongside al-Qaida in Syria.  Time magazine reports on the phenomenon of foreign fighters waging jihad in Syria, in particular young men from Europe (among them hundreds of British citizens and a group of Albanians).

“While Westerners make up about 10% of the foreign fighters in Syria, according to counterterrorism analysts, European and U.S. officials have raised the alarm about increasing numbers of their citizens taking up the fight,” the magazine reports.

“Most join al-Qaida-affiliated groups like ISIS, which are dominated by seasoned jihadis from South Asia, North Africa and the Persian Gulf. The fear, say concerned officials, is that when fighters return home, they bring with them battlefield skills and extremist ideologies, or worse — intent to do violence in their home countries.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team: 

Reuters: Syrian Air Raid Kills Rebel Commander in Aleppo

The Guardian: North Korea Denies Sending Military Aid to Syria

Telegraph: Al Qaida-Linked Rebels Apologize After Cutting Off Head of Wrong Person

Reuters Insight: As Powers Push for Talks, Syria Balance Tilts Towards Assad

Daily Beast: Syria Falls Apart: Kurds Declare Self-Rule, Assad Besieges Aleppo

Reuters: Putin Calls Assad to Discuss Syrian Peace Moves