Twinkling lights, stars, bells and revolutionary flags are strung above the ancient streets of the old city of Damascus.

DAMASCUS - This Christmas morning in Syria’s capital, Christians dressed in their finest clothes, attended church and participated in the annual parade through the ancient part of the city. Yet beneath the holiday cheer lay a heavy sense of anxiety.

Syrian Christians attended Christmas Eve services on Tuesday for the first time since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in early December, in an early test of the new Islamist rulers' pledges to protect the rights of the country's religious minorities.