‘Snowball truce’ brings brief joy, laughter to war-weary Damascus
By Erika Solomon, Reuters, Jan 10, 2013

[....] “Last night, for the first time in months, I heard laughter instead of shelling. Even the security forces put down their guns and helped us make a snowman,” Iman, a resident of the central Shaalan neighbourhood, said by Skype on Thursday. “It was the first time in a long time that I remember talking to our neighbours who are pro-opposition.”

[....] “We felt a smile that has been missing from our faces for almost two years and we were all just Syrians,” said Amin, a resident of central Damascus, speaking on the Internet.  “For a few hours our hearts were as pure as the snow.”

[....] on Wednesday night, residents in several neighbourhoods said they had stayed out until the early hours to enjoy the snow, teased by soldiers who usually stand in grim silence.

“We were out until 2 a.m. just playing ... Last night there were woman and children and men outside and no one was afraid,” said a resident speaking by internet from Midan, a largely pro-opposition neighbourhood in Damascus. With the daily reality of war returning however, he refused to give his name.

“Last night the soldiers threw snowballs at us from their checkpoints. Everyone started coming out and the soldiers would joke: ‘Oh no, is this a protest?’” he said. [....]
 

Al Arabiya video: Residents enjoy rare snowfall in northwest Saudi