On Monday evening the Rev Giles Fraser, broadcaster, columnist, former canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, sent a tweet from Damascus. It read: “Fascinating meeting today discussing the long tradition of religious pluralism in Syria with the Minister for Religious Affairs. And the view from his office window.”

It sounds convivial. The minister probably had sweet apple tea served to his guests in small glass cups on silver filigree saucers.

Accompanying the tweet were two photographs Mr Fraser had taken: one of the bearded minister and, behind him on the wall, a large framed portrait; the other of the view from his office window of minarets and the capital’s urban sprawl.

Given their ubiquity in Baathist Syria it’s quite possible that one of the buildings