Love but above all peace: year-end wishes in Damascus

Damascus

IN a cosy Damascus coffee shop, university student Solaf Hammoud scribbles a heartfelt New Year wish on a yellow card and then hangs it on a twinkling Christmas tree.

Instead of tinsel and baubles, the Christmas tree is decorated with a simple string of lights and dozens of coloured squares bearing the hopes and prayers of Damascenes, war-weary after nearly seven years of conflict. "I hope all my displaced friends come back as soon as possible," reads Ms Hammoud's invocation.