Syria Rebels Take Maalula Nuns to Nearby Town
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian rebels have taken 12 nuns from a convent in the historic town of Maalula to the nearby rebel stronghold of Yabrud, religious officials said on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the nuns had been kidnapped or merely evacuated for their own safety after rebels seized Maalula from regime forces late Monday following three days of heavy clashes.
"The 12 nuns were forced from the convent by an armed group who they went with on the road to Yabrud," a nearby area in rebel hands, the Holy See's nuncio Mario Zenari told Agence France Presse.
Reached by phone, the mother superior of the Saydnaya convent in Damascus province, Sivronia Nabhan, said she had spoken with her Maalula counterpart, who confirmed the nuns were in Yabrud.
Maalula mother superior Pelagia Sayyaf said "she and the 11 other nuns, accompanied by three young maids, were comfortably installed in a house in Yabrud and no one was bothering them," Nabhan said.
The two nuns spoke on Monday evening, Nabhan added.
Zenari said it was it was unclear why the nuns had been forced to leave Maalula and "what the goal of this action is."
The nuns were first reported missing on Monday, as rebel forces, including jihadists from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, recaptured Maalula, which lies north of Damascus.
They were among the few residents left in the hamlet, and were sheltering inside the Mar Takla convent.
In September, they were trapped inside the building with dozens of orphans during the first round of fighting between regime forces and rebels in the town.
But Zenari said the orphans had long been evacuated from the town.
Maalula, a picturesque village cut into the cliffs some 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of Damascus, has long been a symbol of the ancient Christian presence in Syria.
Its residents are some of the few left in the world who speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus Christ is believed to have spoken.
Rebels briefly captured the town in September, before being quickly forced back to its outskirts by regime forces.
But with the army pressing an advance elsewhere in the surrounding Qalamoun region, opposition fighters seized the heart of the town once again on Monday.
An estimated 126,000 people have been killed in Syria since President Bashar Assad's regime launched a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests nearly three years ago, setting off a full-blown civil war that has displaced millions.
03 December 2013, 15:09
010
yabrud is one of the last remaining rebel stronghold in qalamoun, it is now surrounded and the SAA is getting ready to liberate it. the nuns were taken there as human shields. tfeh 3aleyhom w 3aleik.
03 December 2013, 15:18
29
hehe mowaten, bro you should've seen yesterday, i made alot of comments without any single swearing word, and yet Naharnet deleted all my comments for saying the truth, censorship at it's finest.
03 December 2013, 15:26
111
yes, when you make a point and strike a nerve the drones here start reporting it hysterically with all their aliases.
and naharnet doesn't even seem to read the comments. i think if they see X number of reports they just delete it
03 December 2013, 15:28
19
when you write a comment that you feel will drive the drones crazy, keep a copy of it and repost as many times as it takes. as long as there is no insult in it, after a few times it seems to stick.
03 December 2013, 15:39
29
Just sad to see so many people are so desperate to keep the truth out, even on Naharnet lol.
03 December 2013, 15:18
81
You know so much mystic. Are you a mystic fortune teller? You even know more than the nuns themselves!!! You have an evil heart. It's clear that you wish for these nuns to be harmed just so you can say "i told you so".
And how did you all of a sudden become christian? Just a few days ago, you were posting as a shiite. Your trying to create a rift between muslims and christians for the sake of shiite terror. Typical taqiya online. These rebels and the regime forces with their satanic hezb and abu fadl terrorists are ALL to blame for maloula and the rest of Syria.
03 December 2013, 21:41
04
I don't want a rift between muslims and christians, i want a rift between christians and M14 :) And no how can you say something so terrible? I don't want to see these nuns harmed, but i'm afraid the Al Qaeda probaly already killed them all.
03 December 2013, 21:42
04
Because Christians should support their brethren and sisters being slaughtered next door.
03 December 2013, 15:30
19
yep, all they care about is create a negative atmosphere and throw discussions off-track...
03 December 2013, 15:30
111
yep, all they care about is create a negative atmosphere and throw discussions off-track...
03 December 2013, 18:39
18
According to NAHARNET, and I quote, "It was not immediately clear whether the nuns had been kidnapped or merely evacuated for their own safety after rebels seized Maalula from regime forces late Monday following three days of heavy clashes."
I will tell you NAHARNET why the nuns were kidnapped: its for there own good. Remember what the Saudi did to 3,300 infidels in USA on September 11 2001, they killed them for purification reason. The Saudi culture does not kill Christians for the sake of killing, they kill, as Geagea said, for purification. Who is better than Geagea to understand the killing of Christians.
03 December 2013, 18:51
91
Be very careful about the words you use : You say Saudis killed 3,300 infidels in the US. Actually it's Al Qaeda which include Saudis in it's ranks. US attacked Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in retaliation. Not Saudi Arabia.
It's like if I say ALL SHIITES are terrorist because Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. Or ALL CHRISTIANS are killers because Geagea is a killer.
Or ALL CHRISTIANS are psychopathic, lunatic power loving egocentrics just because Aoun is...
Not the same ...
03 December 2013, 18:57
18
True, and the worst part is that we still have blind christians following Geagea. He doesn't care about the Christians and all, all he wants to do is guide them to their downfall, thats why i urge every christian M14 to change their stances, because this must stop. The Real danger to Christianity in ME is KSA Saudi Takfiri Al Qaedas.
03 December 2013, 18:58
18
FlameCacther, careful about your lying mate, ofcourse i know Naharnet accepts lying sense they spread lies themselves, but we all know that what you are saying are lies and Al Qaeda zion propaganda :)
03 December 2013, 19:07
90
Where am I lying ?
Where did I ever lie ?
I'm just poiting out the dangers of "semantics". Yes, "Saudis" were the main Al-Qaeda component in 9/11. It doesn't mean ALL SAUDIS are christian hating terrorists.
In fact, if you ever get to meet Saudis, you will find that most are people like you and me. They drink, they do drugs, they have fun and they wait for any opportunity to flee their country.
Over 80% of sunnis in Tripoli are also normal human beings who want nothing more than live in peace. A couple of hundred manipulated idiots with guns ruin everything for them.
The way you state things makes you look like a racist which I hope you are not. Because this is exactly what "higher powers" want. To breed racist idiots that will kill each other instead of "resisting" them. You are actually doing the job for them.
03 December 2013, 19:12
90
@Mystic : "the worst part is that we still have blind christians following Geagea"
We also have as many (or more according to Aounies) blind Christians following Aoun and by proxy, Hezbollah.
I honestly think that the later is much worst.
Especially that Aounies have dropped everything they fought and suffered for to side with Bashar el Assad and Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation and terrorist dictator ! The same people that beat them up and threw them in jail, slaughtered them ...
They have 0 integrity and beliefs.
03 December 2013, 19:55
17
@Flame First of all, racism have nothing to do with the sect called Wahabism, and i don't believe and i have never said that all Sunnis are following the Wahabis, i know sunnis myself that actually support Bashar Al Assad and Hezbollah, but the wahabi cult has cursed the Sunni name for a long long time now, i hope the good sunni muslims will wake up one day and cast out this curse. Purge themselves from the evil Saudi Regime that has been terrorizing their name for centuries, btw Hezbollah is non secterian and such is Bashar al assad too, he is married to a Sunni woman after all.
03 December 2013, 19:57
17
Open minded people that can live side by side with other religions without pointing fingers, bless them. But Wahabi Al Qaeda just cannot do that, look in Syria how they terrorize the Syrian people and force them to put on Niqap and force them to stop smoking ciggarettes drinking beer or narghile.
