king christmas for the 1st time since the 4th of the subdivision is now the test of a new administrative, sion which is about to protect the rights of religious minorities. are so said reports from damascus city yet is home to one of the oldest christian communities in the world. with some of the most ashen churches and monasteries. it has also produced the pope's. but since the civil war began in 2011, the cruise you come in, it has peace, persecution, displacement and immigration. according to some reports, more than 2 thirds of serious christians had left the country on the 1st christmas of the phone of the regime, the model family pauses to remember what they had been through the all play x, i see the compulsory military service in the readings all me deteriorating economic conditions on an electrical pressure, forced questions to leave the country. my brother was imprisoned for months just because he helped the family, the regime didn't like they said this stuff,

the release of to do a position purple, the anisette comedy. but they also consume, i mean that there's need the optimistic about the future, but we also work because we don't know yet. if the you government will be inclusive enough. they say the current government is a transitional one button over the next government have diversity and the show a me that and didn't say the district they live in was being cost of the bumps on the wedding day in 2014. now the whole new era is beginning, the there is economy with us in the above to him, a dispute of damascus. the historical christian neighbors had to read a sham, known as h. d. s. domino, physician infection. that uprising the top of the specialist said, increased security to ensure the christmas celebrations were not disruptive. sway the ownership. what came with the chase and that came to the muskets to celebrate christmas for the 1st time of the 14 years. you see what is celebrating to get the

full of the regime for happiness to people secretary and it's a, it's in syria. i came here with my son to celebrate christmas. the new administration says it will protect the rights and freedoms of full religious groups and ethnic minorities and syria. i promised that needs to be kept to preserve the confidence frederick peace after 15 years of 7 more people here said the simeon with gm at pizza, it's a different segments of society and religious groups against one another. 40 or 50 years, maintained control in syria. but even still in fear and for students, the vision among its people. there's hope now that the newman's ration. what creates a syria, what citizens lead peacefully and have the voices 1st. this is have the, which is 0, damascus. well hotels is up next statement this in the

the a. ready hotel, i think he's the most out of town saturday that i've ever stated and i've conflicts that there is a bomb in the a rope, a hotel would you believe that bomb went off? what's all you know for his targeting? by the way? primarily because it was a symbol of progress fail however,

got the right button though fast as the greatest hotel in the world. we loved it when it was built and we loved it even when it was part of the why would you apply to work in the most important building in your group and the biggest box you have ever seen. would you, how does it explode? wouldn't actually take the hotel, the belfast, the capital and largest city in northern ireland was toner,

part by sectarian conflict during the 19 seventy's eighty's and ninety's between the protestant union. as the majority wanted northern ireland to remain within the united kingdom and the catholic republic and minority who sold themselves as oppressed by the front desk more than 3500 people were killed and thousands injured. and this 3 decade long conflict, known as the trouble over 16000 palms exploded across northern ireland from both sides and the violent spread to the irish capital dublin and the english capital london. but amid the violence, this building stood firmly in the centre of belfast. witness some of the bloody is chapters of the conflict and hosted more generalist centuries. survived

33 bombings by the provisional irish republican army, the, all right. and held the dubious honor of being europe's most palm hotel, the in the mid 19 sixty's. despite the historical entity, the relationship between the protestant unionist and the catholic nationalist communities was relatively stable in belfast. growing economic confidence had led to a construction booth and the decision was made to build a launch new hotel on the site of the great northern railway station. in 1966, john metropolitan hotels commissioned the building of the hotel, utah, about here in this sensitive belfast. it was a time of relative economic prosperity and relative positivity that was the time

before the trouble was really emerged. however, in the summer of 1968, a new phase of sectarian violence broke counts and delays. the building of the hotel flashes broke out between nationalist catholics and louis protestant during civil rights demonstrations in the pump side area of the city of dairy. the 5th confrontations attracted white media attention. bbc correspond the molten bill was one of the 1st to arrive in northern ireland and one of the 1st guests to check into the yoke the hotel. 2 years later, i remember coming to both of us to november 1968. the had been the famous civil rights much and very londonderry the months before. we stayed at one to 2 really old fashioned hotels,

right in the center. the 2nd one was the roll avenue. the other was the grand central, both of which late to close to and the road from this is the road area of belfast. it's 7 o'clock this evening. the violence in northern ireland increased your in 1969 and the u. k. government sent in the british army amid the onset and see the construction of the 12 story euro per in belfast city center gradually emerged in 1970. the tool is building in the city at the time. i know that your regular was wellbeing, welsh, then every pull to for the bell. fast evening telegraph. he like to became a bbc news editor, and ultimately the controller of bbc and all that on. well, i think that the impression was very mixed. the, there was a bit of waters this plays during here. but then there was an element of hope actually is that, that such a hotel should be both the sectarian killings cobble

is on file and power in the tree activity spread across and all the long island and built to a peak in 1971. the construction of the rope, it was nearly complete when the 1st ball struck the hotel, you know, postponed for the 1st time on the 3rd of july, 1971 actually a week or 2 weeks prior to the opening of the building. so even before the hotel, you little po was open to doors to the public in belfast, ready? the not target for this division, ohio is nevertheless, 5 days off to the 1st full dio rocha held its grand opening. it had been designed to make a bold statement. it's all conjecture, statics, services, stuff and management at the time, henry kelly with the young irish print journalist working in belfast for the dublin

faced irish times. the 1st time i went into the rope, obviously through the security then up in it. i'm the for a, was just one of the biggest bits of hotel that i've ever seen a my life. and i've been a few places off it sleep. what ever they have decided that you do say we're going to say we're here. gerald seymour was among the 1st journalist to report extensively on northern ireland while working for the british news organization. like the 1st time i went to the rep a hotel, it was brand new. it'd been opened a couple of weeks and that would have been in the early summer of 1971. and all hell had broken loose in belfast at that time? no fast and bomb explosions rector's inducement done in broad daylight. 2 months after 8 o'clock on the 6th of september, 1971,

a 2nd bomb hit the road. a co bomb exploded next to the hotel. seriously damaging the protestant union, his party headquarters. 40 people were injured on the roof is windows complete, and shot to the hotels. first manager was hoffer brown, and he immediately owed that the glass to be repaired. and the guests who'd been evacuated to be re accommodates most of them, which unless a harper broad interest segue a double m b. he was to be awarded member of the british empire metal by the queen, which was checking to m b was of course manager about foster robot. and she was a seasoned hotel here i didn't hopper brown was that rest sort of character who actually enjoys emergencies and danger. she bustled

around, he was a small, energetic man who ran everything to do with a hotel. and we were actually rather proud of him and a funny sort of way. he was rather proud of us on the brown the road, but continued to convey a sense of business as usual. but despite his efforts the yoke but was soon back in the firing line in october 1971 to all right man entered the hotel, held a people of gun point and place the large white folks at reception which contains a huge bone. the hotel was evacuated, vehicles were removed from the area under british army arrived, including bomb disposal next, but major george style was never there. type, trying to bomb went talk, but i was there ones in the lower power. when somebody came in and said that

there's a problem, we've what we've got to get that. yeah, yeah, yeah. okay. i looked across to the for you, i'm the biggest box you have ever seen the size of a table that was there. and that was the same as blown ones, dismantled by george styles, which had his exploded would have actually taken out the hotel spouse was prepared to go to enormous legs to diffuse upon. and on one occasion, he sent up to the ro victoria hospital for the most molten and sophisticated x ray equipment and headed down the road and went into the hotel. so he could better examine the bone worked on it for hours.

he came out and the state got my boots on the beach throat and crushed 1972 was all give me the worst. and the 3rd, the history of the northern ireland divine and it began with what's known as bloody sunday on the 15th of january when bridges soldiers killed 13 people in diary during demonstrations, against the british policy of in 10 months without trial. 2 months later, a coal bomb went off in the parking area. behind dio rocha the explosion triggered fires and caused massive damage to the nearby grand victoria railway station shot to ring all the hotels windows and spreading. kinda come on local residents. but no one was killed.

mull belfast buildings followed on the road, became an i all right, propaganda. target q you hodge. the words media in this hotel. the provisional irish activities involve the bombing of commercial premises. they wanted to make northern ireland ungovernable. get the british arch, hit commercialism. and let's have a united art. i'm i'm, they were doing it by serious filers. i'm here. they brought the news to the door step of the chargers. here you hodge. policy of people are a witness that i'm gonna be ex mortgage. the message the hotel became an irish target. first of all, cultures bright shiny,

new and inviting to be player. now they did the phone save problems to make an impact. so won't fetch a place to place that and then they then the hotel where the, where the press was. that's why they did the tell you don't always targeted by the re primarily because it represented if you like the investment into the sensitive belfast investment by the government and northern ireland into the center of the city. it was one thing for the journalists to be that reporting these attacks. but for the hotel stuff, the bombings kept them on high alert all the time. in april 1972, they noticed the suspicious truck parked on the street between the hotel and the opera house and raised the alone a british army bomb disposal unit arrived and of course the cameras with that. a few minutes late to the bomb exploded. the last was felt across the

city doing huge damage to the ground floor of the rope, shattering most of its windows, causing conic amongst the gentlest. while there weren't too many visitors during the trouble of stood nora's in the heart of other than the hordes of news people who came here and the place actually survived that because of it says journalistic involvement and the the hotel i really took that by the scruff of the neck and made it almost uh, a news room. i remember was quite conspiratorial, because you didn't want other gymnast to hear your conversations. it was another age of journalism, in which you will remember, but not for your successes, but feel defeats. so you just everything possible to keep up with the go through

the sunday times during the less chris ryder described, the hotel you to the crossroads of intrigue and in a sense it was. so the hotel you rope always actually a really important place to come to shade information to hear the goals of journalists perhaps to get your studio draws. it's a journalist, the dining room, albany evening, in the year old. most an amazing place the. there was a journalist the was, are various contact supposedly be from the security forces, books, part of the trace. politicians right across the board. and it was very interesting to observe the dining room at the time because half the people wirelessly, i'm trying to ease drop on the next table because over so many intriguing people.

this was a hub of journalism. the, i'll re often wound up in pending attacks. so one of them was found in the lady's toilet seat june 1972 stuff and jim listens, had an hour to evacuate. the hotel casualties were avoided, but the phone badly damaged the 1st floor. this was the 1st ball to go off inside the hotel, the i i really remember being evacuated from the rub hotel. all the alarm sounded, and we what we, what i should i. and this was one occasion when, when the bum did blow up the killing climax. today, a pilot including a bomb, the bell, fos fluctuate europa hotel if you wouldn't be and evacuated as a guest from the hotel on 17 occasions or more than 17,

then the hotel management presented you with a special tie. so i have a little sit difficult. uh to say that has been evacuated on the 17 times plus the the 21st of july, 1972 was one of the most violent days of all. it's known as bloody friday. the 26. all right. palms went off across, fell fast, killing 11 people. i mean, during more than a 140, the robust survives bloody friday, but not feel very long. some 6 months later, the i'll re hit the hotel again with a series of bombings in 1973. in march, a british only bomb disposal unit. that's an a to the coal, both with

a robotic home and a may end up tobar of that. yeah. to bombs exploded up the back of the hotel. robin walsh remembers them vividly. i did not from the misfortune of being evacuated doctors enough to say i didn't have an experience of that because one afternoon my wife was having afternoon tea in this hotel. there was a bomb alert. she armed her girlfriend for a scholarship. i dropped the hotel past the ball, which was in a should cash reception. i'm like the good wife of a journalist. she went to a telephone kiosk across the road from the hotel and rang my direct number at work . just say there is a bomb in the a rope, a hotel, and i'm just being evacuated,

which would you believe that ball went off and i heard about in the photos and i remember screaming, are you all right? are you all right? and she was, she wasn't actually in church show a little, i wasn't affected directly. i had the worst experience because it was in my life the in the 3 years since it had opened. 25 bomb said so far exploded in and around the yoke. but yet there was optimism for both the people of northern island. dio rocha, wendy. i'll re announce to cease fire on the 22nd of december 1974. but he don't. he lost it 25 days in january 19. 75. the ro,

po was hit to get a bowman, the coolest a complete g q h and the bomb exploded and caused great structural damage, albeit without casualties. papa brown oversold the response, came up with that, i'd like to get those to windows for side 1st. 1975 and $6.00 in the near here there were 2 large boma tax 2nd to which in december 1975, a car bomb exploded outside the hotel destroyed almost all the windows and the hotel and as a consequence of the damage encouraging that particular attack the hotel had to be closed for several months, stayed after the hotel you to a public in colo, clearly known as the hard bored hotel because after explosions, it wouldn't be possible for the glazed years to fit your windows immediately. so wouldn't boards had to be attracted the bloss forced the ro pet to close for over

a year. when it reopened, it was full of trustee a rope surrounded by direct cage to stop on the identified cause. going near the entrance and the hotel cease to be annoy all right. tell get in the late 19 seventies and most of the 18 it was sold in 1983 and the new owners re branded it as the forum hotel. but the old name was restored 3 years later with another set of owners. hoffer brown, who'd run the hotel through its delicacy. days retired in 1995 and died at christmas 2 years later. but then the road hit new problems. in 1991 its own is went bankrupt, throwing its future into doubts. not long after the oil re resumed its focus on the

hotel and sent to bomb threats on the 4th of december 1991 mountain mulholland to work his way up on the concierge. desk over 18 years to head it remembers that day 91 little tale was significantly damaged. probably the worst damage to that point of any of the attacks when we got into the building, it was a mess. there were very few savings that were, were up there were no windows or tall. there were gaping holes in the side of the hotel. it was, it was pretty significant damage. we spent 2 years actually renovating low tell and i'm trying to get it back to to work and we had just got to that stage. and then in 93, it was tucked again. in may 1993. i must've full 150 kilo phone ro, belfast. it was hidden in

a large laurie park between the rope and the opera house. the damage was so severe . i was able to stand at my desk and 48 look through the restaurant, will look through the upper hush will and see the opera hostage. such was the, the, the, the force of the blast. and we find a part of the engine block on the 12th floor, riffles hotel the devastating gold of may. 1993 was the last of searching for the attacks by the provisional i already on the hotel you to buy the rafter, the hotel you to put his boat for the hastings hotel group and the hotel move towards a more positive future. the new own is completely refurbished the road. ready the face of politics and know the law that was also changing piece towards ramp tough in the mid 19 ninety's. and when us president bill clinton and his wife hillary visited northern ireland in support of the peace process. they checked into

the road for 1191995. the clinton sweden is named in there on the the formal and the possibilities was finally signed with a good friday agreement. on the 10th of april, 1998. it was the end of the debt chains of green conflict of the end of an era for this extraordinary war hometown for the hundreds of journalists to cover northern islands dock is to use the euro, but will always occupy a special place in the hans and mine we loved the big house of the security and com with a lot of how we're going on around the the euro put invoked. i will never forget

that had to i have enormous bonus for ira. got the right button. belfast as the greatest hotel in the world, we loved it when it was built, and we loved it even when it was bombed. and it was and remains as a special place in this hotel is for ever in my mind because i see it so often. spine in the middle of battle fast beside my really station and i never fail to pass 0. besides seeing the images of the past. and of course you're right in the middle of the trouble spots. as you look back was this hotel, which is not a symbol of hope for the future, the dislike as if it was a known conscious monument to the share of decency, of

a great city of but fast. so as far as i'm concerned, you can call 0 plus effort in life. but for me, from my generation of john, this is to just be 0. the . the important thing if you're walking around and bare root was not in the line of fire from the holiday fall off. we heard gunshots. i was the 1st one to feed the whole thing back to last. it's 3 days and 3 nights and the one know prisoners in control, and you control over the region around and that's why it was such an icon is the conflict at the heart of the lebanese civil will be rude holiday inn hotels on. i

will just say era, we know what is happening, you know, have to get to places that others tend on. i want to die by the 28th on purpose. as far as the way that you tell the story is what can make a difference the the times the whole robin, you're watching the old with it renews life from the coming up in the next 60 minutes and rest in syria. the new administration says 14 police officers have been killed in an ambush in the countries west. 5 pallets and the engine list all killed by it is really as dry because like sleep in the

vehicle in gauze, they're also a brazen scapes.