Christmas in post-Assad Syria tainted by fears for minority's future

But at a church in Damascus's historic centre, surrounded by some 500 faithful who were singing psalms on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, she could breathe a sigh of relief.

"It wasn't easy to come together in the current circumstances and to joyfully pray, but thank God, we did it," Latifa told AFP at mass at the capital's Syriac Orthodox cathedral of Saint George.

Syria's rulers who toppled Assad's government on December 8 have since sought to assure religious and ethnic minorities that their rights would be upheld.

But for some in the Christian community of several hundred thousands, the promises made by the new Islamist leadership have done little to soothe their fears in a country scarred by years of civil war.

Hundreds took to the streets of Damascus on Tuesday to demand their rights be respected, after a Christmas tree was set ablaze in a town in central Syria.

A video on social media showed hooded fighters setting fire to the tree in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said they were foreign jihadists. A local religious leader from Syria's victorious Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) condemned the torching.

At the Saint George Cathedral, Latifa said that even though the road towards a new Syria may seem "tumultuous or uncertain", the future can be better "if we walk hand in hand".
'We don't belong'
Before the war began in 2011, Syria was home to about one million Christians, or about five percent of the population, according to analyst Fabrice Balanche.

Now, he told AFP, only up to 300,000 of them are still in the country.

Assad, who hails from the Alawite minority and ruled with an iron fist, had long presented himself as a protector of minority groups in Syria, whose population is majority Sunni Muslim.

The new administration appointed by HTS -- a group which is rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda -- has adopted an inclusive discourse, seeking to reassure groups in the multi-confessional and multi-ethnic country.

In this transformed political landscape, Syrian Christians are determined to make their voices heard.

In an overnight protest over the Christmas tree burning, Georges, who only gave his first name, condemned "sectarianism" and "injustice against Christians".

"If we're not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don't belong here anymore," he said.

In his first sermon in Damascus since Assad's fall, John X, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, expressed his hope that a new constitution would be drawn up with the participation of "all parts of the Syrian mosaic".
'Afraid of the unknown'
In Bab Touma, a Christian-majority neighbourhood of Damascus, carols rang out from a cafe which was festively decorated and lit, and fitted with a Christmas tree.

Owner Yamen Basmar, 45, said that some people "are afraid" of the new situation.

"Many come to ask me whether I still sell alcohol, or if we still organise events," he said.

"In reality, nothing has changed," Basmar stressed, even though he said sales have gone down by 50 percent because "people are afraid anyway".

Last Christmas, "we closed at 3:00 am. Now we close at 11:00 pm," Basmar said.

One Damascus restaurant held a Christmas party, attended by dozens of people, Christians and Muslims alike.

"The party was really nice, not what we had imagined," said 42-year-old Emma Siufji.

"As Christians this year, we're afraid of the unknown."

Her only wish this holiday season, Siufji told AFP, was that no Syrian would have to leave the country, as happened to millions during the war.

"No one would want to be forced to leave."