Syria, july 2002.

A change of direction has been underway in Syria over the last few days, following a sudden upheaval in the political situation and the fall of Damascus, which led to the long-awaited departure of the Assad clan.

Here are some images of Syria taken in July 2002, during a two-week visit through the country.

You can see more photographs of the Middle East (Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon) on my Website.

Un changement de direction est à l'oeuvre depuis quelques jours en Syrie, après un chamboulement éclair de la situation politique et la chute de Damas ayant entraîné le départ tant attendu du clan Assad.

Suivent ici quelques images de la Syrie prises en juillet 2002 lors d’un séjour de deux semaines à travers le pays.

Vous pouvez voir d'autres photographies sur le Moyen-Orient (Jordanie, Egypte, Liban) sur mon site Internet.

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Damascus, from Jebel Qassioum

Damascus

Damascus

Aleppo

Aleppo, in the souk

Aleppo

Damascus, old town

Damascus, at the Umayyad Mosque

Damascus, at the Umayyad Mosque

Damascus, at the Sayyida Zaynab Mosque

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You can easily follow the Instagram account where I post regularly new photographs.

Vous pouvez facilement suivre le compte Instagram où je poste régulièrement de nouvelles photographies.

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Archive : Crimea.

These nineteen photographs were taken during a trip in Crimea summer 2007, from Sevastopol to Balaklava, Foros, Yalta, Sudak, Simferopol and Odessa.

Crimea was still part of Ukraine, until Russian soldiers without insignias took control of strategic positions and infrastructure within the Ukrainian territory of Crimea (March 2014).

Today, the peninsula is still a trouble spot between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union.

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Wadi Musa.

The city of Wadi Musa is located in southern Jordan, and is the nearest town to the archaeological site of Petra.

I traveled in Jordan for exactly 18 years ago, and was in Wadi Musa a few days between 11th and 14th of February, 2003. The six photographs presented bellow were taken Friday, 14th of February, 2003.

I had a short talk with the guy on the second photograph.

In my travel diary, I wrote:

”Friday, 14th of February, 2003 - Wadi Musa

He is watching me walking down the street and taking pictures. He comes out of his shop.

"What a nice camera! I had one of those once, too. But I threw it away, I couldn’t find any medium format rolls!"

He laughs. I look at him. He can see that my camera is a medium format. That's very unusual – and on top of that, he had one once but threw it away.

I ask him quickly: "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he answers. "Would you like some tea?"

"Sure!" I say, happy to be making contact.

The food shop he keeps is very small. Behind the counter there'sa little gas hotplate with a kettle on it.

"Takes an hour to boil the water", he says with a laugh.

He mixes together some honey and condensed milk in a jar, spreads it on bread, then hands me a piece.

"I pray a lot", he says. "I stay here all day long, listen to the koran on tape, and read it as well. Before, I worked as a guide, down here, in Petra. But it’s finished now. I want to be a good muslim."

My impression is that he's happy. He wears a white djellaba, and his beard is neat. He laughs and smiles a lot.

I ask him"Do you think there's going to be a war in Iraq?"

"Yes, I'm sure there is! It’s going to be a nightmare for the USA!"

I take a picture of him in front of his shop."

The Iraq War began officially on 20th March, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein.

I sometimes wonder: where is this man now..?

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