Christmas in Damascus

Photo via ZOKA 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Damascus to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and to get in a little discussion about defense matters. Assad and Putin visited the Umayyad Mosque and viewed the head of St. John the Baptist that is preserved by the mosque. Putin presented the mosque with a rare 17th Century edition of the Koran. Then it was on to the oldest Orthodox church in Syria, the Mariamite Cathedral, built during the second century. Putin gifted the church with an icon of the Virgin Mary painted in Russia.

Well, was it all worth it, to spend year after year watching the Syrian War from afar, and unable to do anything except pray and root for the Syrian Army and its supporting militias?  After all, I'd never visited Syria and never met a Syrian, and knew virtually nothing about the country and its history until I started following the war. These people were strangers to me.   

I grew old watching the Syrian War and I was often filled with despair by the course of the war and its unending horrors. But I never allowed myself to cry. Last night I watched the following video that featured part of a concert by Lebanese music artist Abeer Nehme singing Christmas songs with thousands of Syrians singing along. 

Strangers no more, I realized. Then, finally, the tears came, tears of happiness. Yes, yes, a thousand times, I do not regret a moment.

********