Damascus, Syria’s capital ... civil war and heightened tensions in the Middle East. The Austrian capital of Vienna was named the most liveable city in 2024 for the third year in a row by ...

According to accounts from 13 witnesses in Damascus, however, the sectarian violence spread to the southern edges of Syria's capital, a few kilometres from the presidential palace.

Those kidnapped included a retired teacher, an engineering student and a mechanic, all of them Alawite - the minority sect of toppled leader Bashar al-Assad.

The accounts by the dozen witnesses in Damascus, however, indicate that sectarian violence unfolded in the southern edges of Syria's capital ... and in provincial cities such as Homs and Hama.