The letter, published in the Damascus daily Barada, was signed off by the following merchants: Abdul Hamid al-Aswad, Abdul Rahman Murad Agha, Mustapha Ayyash, Mustapha Fakhri, Mohammad Kheir Ebesi, Mohammad Jlaki, Mohammad Abdul Rahman Adi, Ali Kheirallah, Wahid Aswad, and the Hama business group leader, Mohammad Said Adi.