IN PICTURES: Christmas around the Middle East

An Iraqi Christian boy, who fled the violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, poses for a photo wearing a Father Christmas hat in the grounds of Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church (AFP)

Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, buy Christmas paraphernalia in Erbil on 24 December (AFP)

Members of a Lebanese water ski club wearing a Santa Claus costume perform in the bay of Jounieh, north of Beirut (AFP)

Lebanese water-skiers (AFP)

Christian pilgrims visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Jesus was said to have been born (AFP)

Nigerian pilgrims walk through the corridors of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (AFP)

People start their Christmas preparation and shopping at the traditional Christmas market in Tehran (AA)

A street vendor selling Christmas trees and decorations during the Christmas preparations in Dakar (AA)

Streets are decorated with lights during the Christmas preparations at Freedom Square in Dakar (AA)

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