“Men in the Middle East never cry. But when I saw what had happened to everything I had worked so hard to create for my family and me, I have to admit I cried.”

I met Nizar on my first evening in Syria. Relieved at having finally made it into the country, here I was comforting a man whose one wish was to leave. And he had good reason to seek a new life elsewhere. Nizar told me that a dozen years ago he had come back to Homs after a successful business career on the Caribbean island of Grenada.

It was a decision he came to regret when Syria became engulfed in conflict and his shop and home were badly damaged.