HOMS (Syria): The metallic green Christmas tree towers over the bombed-out heart of Syria’s third city Homs, where residents are relishing a holiday cheer they haven’t felt in years. One volunteer hammered a metal platform in place ahead of a choir concert and children’s shows, and the futuristic artificial Christmas tree is to be lit up on Thursday. “In 2014, when we had just returned to this destroyed neighbourhood, our Christmas tree was made of rubble,” said Roula Barjour, the executive director of charity NGO Bayti, or “My House,” in Arabic. “I want to ask them to come back, because happiness has come back to Homs,” Yussefi exclaimed. Many of its 800,000 residents fled when war erupted, but tens of thousands have trickled back, including to the Old City.

Source: New Strait Times December 21, 2017 03:11 UTC