HOMS, Syria: The metallic green Christmas tree towers over the bombed-out heart of Syria’s third city Homs, where residents are relishing a holiday cheer they haven’t felt in years.

They have been busy putting the final decorative touches on the tree in Hamidiyeh, a neighborhood in the ravaged Old City of Homs, where ferocious street battles pitted regime forces against rebels between 2011 and 2014.

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