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BUFFETED by updrafts from the Chouf Mountains and Bekaa valley, the aircraft gradually descends into Syrian airspace towards Damascus International Airport, writes Tom Clonan.

My previous visit to Damascus was in March 1996 as an Army officer on leave from UN service in Lebanon. Back then, over a warm St Patrick’s weekend, I found the Syrian capital to be a welcoming, vibrant and essentially secular city with Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities cohabiting in relative harmony. Under President Assad’s watchful eyes – his portrait stares intently from every shop window, bar and souk in the city – the Guinness flowed freely. Despite Assad’s omnipresence however, conversations with ordinary Syrians flowed freely also.