Syria says it will produce more olive oil this year than ever before

A raging five-year civil war has claimed nearly a quarter-million lives. Most of the population — an estimated 11 million — have fled their homes. Most of the territory is under the control of rival insurgencies. Air attacks from Russian and American warplanes pound the countryside. Syria hardly seems like a place to make olive oil now, and yet according to official estimates this will be a banner year for Syrian olive oil.