Georgina Deiratani speaks with a customer at her "Farkha Pasha" cafe in Moscow on December 18, 2024. The 37-year-old Syrian Christian who has lived in Moscow for over two decades, says she is still "in shock" at the ouster and escape to Russia of president Bashar al-Assad. "Everybody is saying 'congratulations' but for me this is the end of Syria," said the trained doctor who is running a Syrian cuisine cafe, one of several thousand Syrians estimated to be living in the Russian capital. The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied rebels ousted Assad earlier this month. (Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)