Having dinner in one of Damascus' trendy restaurants might give the feeling that Syria is calm, and all the news circulating here and there are baseless rumors. Tables are fully booked, people from different areas and various sectarian backgrounds are sitting together and sharing the same food; smiley faces refute all claims that Syria is in the midst of a bloody civil war, till the sound of artillery shakes the place and uproots all feelings of safety and peace.
In the capital of Syria people in mixed, poor neighborhoods are living nightmares; they know that their best days are behind, and what is to come is much more dangerous than all that they are going through nowadays.