On Christmas Day, Michel Butros al-Jisri, one of the last Christians in the Syrian city of Idlib, didn¡¯t attend services, because the Islamic rebels who control the area had long since locked up the church. Nor did he gather with friends and relatives to celebrate around a tree because nearly all of his fellow Christians have either died or fled during Syria¡¯s 10-year civil war.
Instead, al-Jisri said, he went to the city¡¯s Christian cemetery, which no one uses anymore, to sit among the graves of his forebears and mark the day quietly, by himself.
¡°Who am I going to celebrate the holiday with? The walls?¡± he asked. ¡°I don¡¯t want to celebrate if I am alone.¡±
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