Under Ottoman rule, the region was split ... By adopting instead the secular three-striped flag of 1930, the new rulers of Damascus seem to declare themselves Syrians above all else.

A train station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, an essential link between Europe and the Arabian Peninsula during the Ottoman Empire and then a national transit hub.

A train station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, an essential link between Europe and the Arabian Peninsula during the Ottoman Empire and then a national transit hub.