FEATURE - Syria's uprising exacts heavy toll across economy

AMMAN (Reuters) - In a restaurant in the once bustling Hamidiyah souk of the old city of Damascus, waiters prepare to serve a handful of customers in an ornate room with many empty tables. A singer now performs there weekly, instead of every day.

"The number of customers has almost halved," says Ahmad, a manager at the famous Abu al Izz restaurant, as he reminisces over days when he would turn away diners who could find no place to sit at the establishment's 250 tables.