Syria builds dollar reserves, thanks partly to Assad's enemies

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's central bank has bought hundreds of millions of dollars from the domestic currency market it now tightly controls, helping to build up depleted reserves for an economy crippled by civil war, bankers and dealers say.

After jailing dozens of dealers in a black market crackdown, Damascus has pulled off the purchases without provoking a new collapse of the Syrian pound - thanks partly to dollars pumped into rebel areas by President Bashar al-Asssad's enemies.