The Middle East Framed - regional photography for December 23, 2020

We bring you the best images from the Middle East and North Africa

Scouts parade at the Sayydet al-Niyah Church in the Rome Catholic Patriarchate, in the old city of Damascus, Syria, as part of Christmas celebrations. EPA

Palestinian Christian Ghada Abu Dawud (R) decorates a Christmas tree with her daughter at her home in Gaza city. AFP

Palestinian farmers harvest strawberries in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

A Palestinian demonstrator holds onto another man arguing with Israeli border guards during a demonstration against Israeli occupation near an Israeli settlement outpost west of Salfit, in the centre of the occupied West Bank. AFP

The parents (C) of Franco-Israeli Esther Horgan, 52, a mother of six who was killed when she went out for a run near her home in the West Bank settlement of Tal Menashe, mourn during her funeral. AFP

An aerial view shows locals visiting the Christmas tree in front of the Church of the Nativity, in the Palestinian holy city of Bethlehem in the West Bank. AFP

Cars drive along a street inside the heavily-fortified Green Zone which houses the headquarters of Iraqi government, the US embassy and other foreign diplomatic missions in central Baghdad, Iraq. EPA

A man carrying a package walks past Iraqi riot police standing guard outside the Central Bank of Iraq headquarters on Rashid Street in the centre of Baghdad. Hundreds of angry Iraqis have been protesting in several cities against a currency devaluation that has slashed their purchasing power amid a pandemic-fuelled economic crisis. AFP

Pedestrians at the Port de France entrance to the Medina old city district of Tunis, Tunisia. Tunisia will receive its first batch of two million Pfizer vaccine doses in the second quarter of 2021, TAP agency reported, citing Hechmi Louzir, director general of Pasteur Institute. Bloomberg

US Presidential advisor Jared Kushner (C) and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat (R) arrive at the Royal Palace in the Moroccan capital Rabat on the first Israel-Morocco direct commercial flight, marking the latest US-brokered diplomatic normalisation deal between the Jewish state and an Arab country. AFP

Volunteers work on the restoration of Our Lady of Deliverance Church, which was damaged by the August 4 explosion in Beirut. With less than a week before Christmas, residents of the Karantina area in Beirut are hoping to celebrate the festival at the neighbourhood's century-old church. EPA

The first shipment of the Covid-19 vaccine arrives at Kuwait International Airport in Farwaniya, Kuwait. Kuwait's health minister Basel Al-Sabah announced that the vaccine would be given out in four stages, with the first stage including healthcare professionals, frontline workers and people over the age of 65. EPA

Afghan security personnel inspect the site of a roadside bomb attack which killed multiple people in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP Photo

Afghan security personnel and municipality workers remove a damaged vehicle after a roadside bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP Photo

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