Damascus bar acts as a diary

Tucked away among the shops of Damascus' Straight Street, a small bar and its walls serve as a diary for the Syrian capital's youth.

Names, memories and love letters are scrawled on almost every inch of the yellowed walls of the Abu George bar.

Abu Essam, whose father opened the bar more than 70 years ago, says the small shop, just big enough for five tables, holds the "memories" of the city and its people.