Al-Qaeda faction Jabhat al-Nusra claimed victory in the battle over the Christian village of Maaloula this weekend, but the fighting continues in the area around the outskirts, as Syrian forces have attempted to move back into the town.
Nusra fighters began contesting the village early last week, capturing a hill-top hotel and using it as a base of operations to shell the neighborhoods below. Many of the civilians fled the town, but a large number reportedly took shelter in the St. Takla Convent hoping to wait out the attacks.
With reports of churches around the village coming under attack and locals facing forced conversion by al-Qaeda fighters, the head of the convent, Pelagia Sayaf, says that they continue to hear clashes and gunfire outside, but so far the convent itself hasn’t been attacked. They said they had no news from outside, however, and couldn’t confirm the fate of anyone else in the city.
A video from an unnamed rebel commander claimed they plan to withdraw from the village after blowing up the military post within, saying it was being used “to harm Muslims.” Still, there’s no sign of that happening yet, and Syria’s Christians are increasingly prepared to flee the country as the rebels approach their homes.
That shows that Syrian army is protecting their people no matter what they believe or their religion is, in the other hand it is Saudis and their barbarians so as UAE and Turkish government, so as Israeli Apartheid regime which are the opposite of what Syrian is about. It is time for ICC to get busy and start prosecuting the list of war crimes from George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest.