The News
Christmas celebrations worldwide were marred by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as tensions in otherwise buoyant Syria.
Russia launched what Kyiv described as an “inhuman” attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, employing more than a hundred missiles and drones. In Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian Christians marked a second consecutive sombre Christmas despite renewed hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza: “This year, we limited our joy,” the town’s mayor said.
And in Syria, Christians protested in Damascus after video circulated of a Christmas tree being set alight, an incident blamed on foreign fighters but which nevertheless harmed fledgling levels of trust in the country’s de facto Islamist rulers.
AD