Syrian Christians gathered at churches in the country's capital Damascus on Wednesday amid tight security measures to celebrate their first Christmas after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "Today there is a large deployment of security to protect the churches,

Although members of the Christian community said they are happy to see the Assad regime go, many are wary of their new Islamist leaders.

Christmas in Maaloula was marked by fear, as the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's rise to power rekindled memories of Islamist violence that terrorized the Christian town from 2013 to 2014.