Syria's national football team won the West Asian Championship on Thursday after defeating the Iraqi team 1-0 in Kuwait.

After the results announcement, celebratory gunshots were heard reverberating in many districts of the capital Damascus that has been showered Thursday with heavy rain as the claps of thunder mixed with the drumbeat of shells slamming rebels' strongholds at its outskirts, spreading a gloomy mood of cold and war.

The football event has come to give Syrians something to unite upon as both opponents and proponents have followed the match closely, mostly in cafes in central Damascus. Endi