Turkish Police arrested four former fighters of Faylaq al-Rahman and a Turkish citizen who were trying to sell two rare, ancient, gold-plated Torahs in the northwestern province of Bilecik on May 8, the Russian TV network RT reported on May 11.
The Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah said that Police had confiscated the two ancient Torahs during the arrest. According to the newspaper, the town ancient artifacts worth a total of $1.86mln.
Syrian opposition sources confirmed that Faylaq al-Rahman fighters had stolen the ancient Torahs from a historical 2,000 years old synagogue in the Jobar district, east of the Syrian capital of Damascus. The district was under the control of the US-backed group Faylaq al-Rahman from 2013 until March 2018, when it was finally liberated by the Syrian Arab Army (FSA).
After the liberation of Jobar, Syrian pro-government activists revealed that many of the district’s historical Jewish synagogues had been looted and destroyed by Faylaq al-Rahman fighters, who even dug tunnels under the historical sites in an attempt to find “Jewish treasures”.
This was the second scandal involving Eastern Ghouta “opposition” groups after their withdrawal from the region. On March 5, the Iranian news agency Fars revealed that the political leader of Jaysh al-Islam Mohammed Alloush had stolen $47m from his group before resignation from his position.
Corruption was one the main reasons that led to the fast defeat of the militants in Eastern Ghouta.
