Dimashq

Between 1960 and 1970 the population of Dimashq and Halab provinces increased to more than 1.4 million and 1.3 million, respectively, and by 1970 accounted for some 44 percent of the total population.

The large number of coins from Dimashq can be attributed to Jericho’s placement in that province, yet even so the number is high considering the distance the coins had to travel.

He had driven a white taxi from Beirut to Dimashq and when his uncle’s cousin had shown up to collect the fare at the post office by the train station, it was how things worked, which always came first.

On Monday, al-Megrahi’s brother, Abel Nasser, spoke to reporters outside the villa, in the posh Dimashq neighbourhood.

Someday, my art would adorn every corner of Dimashq. Someday, there would be long rows of children learning to doodle. They could learn to doodle their alif-be-pe-te instead of wrestling with them like I did.