A Syrian youth waits for customers in a shop selling head scarves at the popular Hamidiyeh old market. (AP)

Syrians prepared ice cream, shopped and lived relatively normal lives -- however momentarily -- at the popular Hamidiyeh old market, in Damascus, Syria, on Thursday. Through the country has been racked with violence during a nearly 2 ½-year civil war, including the alleged use of chemical weapons at rebel-held districts on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, the activity at Hamidiyeh portrays a fleeting peace that some Syrians can still find.

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