Syria: Syrian Army Arrests 5 Turkish Nationals in Aleppo

Syrian Army Arrests 5 Turkish Nationals in Aleppo TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian army arrested five Turkish nationals, who were engaged in terrorist activities, in Syria's second largest city of Aleppo on Monday.

The army arrested the Turkish citizens in Aleppo's Khan al-Assal district as they were looting a warehouse in the area, the Syrian newspaper al-Watan reported.

Last month, the Syrian army had arrested four Turkish fighter jet pilots near the Koerc military airport in the Eastern Aleppo, but later released them in a swap deal to free the 48 Iranian pilgrims who had been abducted in Damascus in August.

The Syrian troops arrested the four Turkish fighter pilots as they were about to attack the airport of the Northern Aleppo province on December 31. They were trying to sneak into the airport with an armed group.

Meantime, popular support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has grown as 20,000 volunteers will join the Syrian army by next week. This can help end the Syrian crisis in a shorter time, military analysts say.

Terrorists have tried hard in the last few weeks to make Syrian cities unsafe, specially for citizens, but the army has purged them from most neighborhoods and districts, killed hundreds of them and arrested many more.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.

The US daily, Washington Post, reported in May that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups battling the President Bashar al-Assad's government have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The newspaper, quoting opposition activists and US and foreign officials, reported that Obama administration officials emphasized the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Persian Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.

According to the report, material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border.

Opposition activists who several months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said in May that the flow of weapons - most bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military in the past - has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month.