>Thousands pray for rain as drought scorches Middle East
December 4, 1999 Web posted at: 1:15 a.m. EST (0615 GMT)

DAMASCUS, Syria (CNN) -- Thousands in the Middle East are thronging to
mosques, fervently praying for an end to a drought that threatens their
crops, their animals -- and their lives. At the main Ommayyad Mosque in
Damascus, thousands of men and women asked God on Friday to send rain clouds
and deliver the country from its acute water shortage. -CNN.com (WORLD)