by: TomWestcott for Middle East Eye

date: September 16, 2018

Excerpt:

MHARDEH, Syria – Each night, the streets of the Christian town of Mhardeh teem with life.

Young people in trendy attire drink beer and smoke Shisha pipes, shyly eyeing up attractive passersby and posing for group selfies, while off-duty soldiers with their girlfriends sitting side-saddle whizz through the town on motorbikes.

“Look at this, even during the hardest part of the war, people are out. It’s a release, a way to forget what we are suffering because, when the mortars rain down on us, we have to hide in our basements,” says science undergraduate Samer Altouma.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-s-christian-city-idlib-frontline-275605521