Dramatic report: Inside the battle for Syria's ancient Christian village (VIDEO RT).

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Anti-Assad rebels have been forced out of many parts of Syria’s ancient Christian village of Maaloula, but the fighting there remains heavy, RT correspondent Maria Finoshina reports from the scene.
After arriving in the center of the village Wednesday, Maria Finoshina and the RT camera crew saw signs of a recent battle and heard shelling, but received a warm welcome from smiling and relieved Syrian Army soldiers, who said the village was freed from jihadists. The claim would later in the day turn out to be premature.


Al-Nusra Front fighters first attacked the village last Wednesday. The following seven days saw Maaloula torn between the rebels and government forces, with both occasionally gaining control over the village. 

Some residents, who claim rebels have resorted to looting, executions and forcing residents to convert to Islam, chose to join the Army to defend their village. Among them, Saba Ubeid, a store owner, said when filmed by RT in 2012 that he was sure the rebels would never come to the village. This time he was armed with a gun and fought alongside Syrian soldiers. 

“They sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill Syrian people and each other. Why? I ask the world, why?” he cried out.  “While in Europe if a citizen is simply slapped in his face, there'll be a scandal. While Syrians – how many victims, how many hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered? When it will stop?”
 http://rt.com/news/syria-chistian-vallage-fighting-766/
12/9/13 
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• In Ma’loula: Ringing Bells and Worshipers, Not Barricades and Slaughterers....

Director of the Catholic Information Center, Father Abdo Abu Kasam, said that what happened in the Syrian town of Ma'loula is the result of violence and the senseless war under the guise of democracy and freedoms.

In a statement he made to Al-Manar Website Friday, Abu Kasam wondered: "What freedoms they are seeking in a time when churches are violated and houses of worship are burnt which is supposed to be a place to build love."

"Attacking the holy sites of Christianity affects the Christian heritage and entity. Ma'loula is an ancient city which houses monasteries and not barricades, where you hear the bells ringing not the sound of guns, where people pray and do not slaughter," the Father told Al-Manar Website.

"Pope Francis has called on the international community, the G20 leaders, the United Nations and the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See to say 'stop the violence in Syria and come to establish and build a culture of peace and stand against the war which would be launched on Syria and to help its people instead' just like the Pope did when he called for a day of prayer for Syria," Abu Kasam went on to say.

Abu Kasam stressed that "war only generates war and violence only generates violence."

"Do Muslims accept the churches to be violated?", Abu Kasam asked, adding that he was waiting for an official stance of the Islamic clerics, pointing out that Islam is a religion of mercy and not of cracking, killing and slaughter.

"Come to meet for the one word to build a culture of peace among ourselves," Father Abu Kasam concluded, calling upon those who support the armed groups in Syria to reconsider their accounts and learn more on those whom they support, feed and finance.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=109459&cid=23&fromval=1
7/9/13
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• Jihadists Force Syria Christian ’to Convert at Gunpoint’...

Jihadists who overran Syria's ancient town of Ma'loula last week disparaged Christians as "Crusaders" and forced at least one person to convert to Islam at gunpoint, say residents who fled the town.

Many of Ma'loula people left after a first militant assault knocked out an army checkpoint at the entrance to the strategic town on September 4. Some went to a nearby village and others to Damascus, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) to the south.

One of them, Marie, was still frightened as she spoke of that day.

"They arrived in our town at dawn... and shouted 'We are from the Al-Nusra Front and have come to make lives miserable for the Crusaders," an Islamist term for Christians, Marie said in Damascus, where she and hundreds of others attended the burial Tuesday of three Christian fighters who belong to the public committees.

Ma'loula is one of the most renowned Christian towns in Syria, and many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

Home to around 5,000 people, it is strategically important for rebels, who are trying to tighten their grip around the capital.

Security sources stress that the Syrian militants still deploy in Ma'loula, although the militants had announced yesterday that they would withdraw from the town in case the Syrian army did not return to it.

Syrian militants were still positioned in a historic Christian town near Damascus on Wednesday, a day after they announced they were ready to withdraw, a security source told Agence France Presse.

"The army has not yet retaken Ma'loula. The battles are raging on, but (the army) is making progress," the source said.

"The insurgents till hold some positions inside Ma'loula and its surroundings," the source added.

The militant groups announced on Tuesday they would withdraw from Ma'loula, but that this was "conditional" on army troops not taking their place.

The Syrian insurgents had invaded Ma'loula last week, targeting the civilians and the churches before the Syrian army started his campaign to regain the peaceful town.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=109888&cid=23&fromval=1
11/9/13

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