The Syrian pound continues to depreciate sharply in value, with one U.S. dollar now being equivalent to more than 1100 Syrian pounds by many exchange rates. This depreciation has had a sharp impact on people's livelihood inside Syria and more people are beginning to speak up. The Syrian state media agency SANA even provided coverage of a recent peaceful demonstration in the southern province of Suwayda' protesting against the high cost of living.

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It is one thing to list the name of a Syrian rebel faction, describe its flag, note some of its superficial political rhetoric and give an estimate of the number of fighters, but quite another to describe the composition and internal structure of that faction. Exploring the latter issues would do much more to tell us about who exactly are the rebel factions and how they function. Regrettably, much ostensible research on the rebel factions has frankly been abysmal. For example, as American researcher Alexander McKeever commented, a lot of "pro-opp[osition] analysis of these groups rarely went beyond collecting their logos and checking to see how much green was included." On the other side, the obsession has been to label rebel groups as "jihadist" (a term applied far too carelessly without consideration as to its actual meaning).

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Previously on this blog I provided a translation and commentary on an account of the Ten Commandments in Old Frisian, which is the closest linguistic relative of Old English. Old Frisian texts are primarily legal in nature, and the Old Frisian account of the Ten Commandments fits within that classification as it is essentially an aetiology of law.

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Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki was a Syrian rebel group based in west Aleppo countryside that was first formed towards the end of 2011. It was finally dissolved last year after being routed by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (of which Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki had once been a part). With the defeat of the group, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham seized the group's strongholds, resources and weapons. More broadly, the defeat of the group allowed Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham to cement even further its domination over the insurgent-held northwest of Syria based around Idlib and its environs.

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Readers of my blog will be familiar with my affection for old Germanic languages such as Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Gothic. Old Frisian is another old Germanic language and is in fact the closest linguistic relative of Old English. However, the subsequent importation of much non-Germanic vocabulary into English means that the modern descendants of Old Frisian and Old English are not mutually intelligible. In contrast, the student of Old English should be able to understand Old Frisian and start reading texts in Old Frisian within a few days of starting to learn Old Frisian grammar.

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