Syrian Christian Targetted! “They sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill Syrian people..I ask the world, why?” Saturday, September 14, 2013 15:41
Last week, rebel forces [including] jihadists linked to al-Qaeda took over the town. On Tuesday the rebels said they would give it up but only on the condition that Assad’s forces didn’t take their place.
Finoshina arrived in the battle scarred village on Wednesday and found that there was little sympathy among the few resident who were left for the rebels.
They said the Christian village famous for its beautiful churches and monasteries was looted and the jihadist rebels forced inhabitants to convert to Islam or threatened them with execution. Many decided to join the Syrian army to defend their homes.
“They sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill Syrian people and each other. Why? I ask the world, why?” Saba Ubeid told [RT reporter] Finoshina.
The rebels are now holed up in the surrounding hills, which are littered with caves and hold the high ground above the town, making it difficult for the Syrian army to advance.
Jihadists ‘killed, threatened Christians’ in Syrian town of Maalula
Maalula The coffin of the three Christian Syrians who were killed during the week-end in the ancient town of Maalula, are displayed during a religious service as part of their funeral in the capital Damascus.
“They arrived in our town at dawn on Wednesday and shouted ‘We are from the Al-Nusra Front and have come to make lives miserable for the Crusaders,” an Islamist term for Christians, said a still frightened woman who identified herself as Marie.
.. Maalula
People look from their windows at a funeral march for the three Christian Syrians who were killed during the week-end in the ancient town of Maalula, in the capital Damascus.
… Maalula
The coffins of two of the three Christian Syrians who were killed during the week-end in the ancient town of Maalula, are carried during a funeral march in the capital Damascus.
“I saw people wearing Al-Nusra headbands who started shooting at crosses,” said Mr Nasrallah.
One of them “put a pistol to the head of my neighbour and forced him to convert to Islam by obliging him to repeat ‘there is no God but God.”’
Mr Nasrallah, who spent 42 years running a restaurant in the US state of Washington named after his hometown, said he was devastated by what happened in Maalula.
“I had a great dream. I came back to my country to promote tourism. I built a guesthouse and spent $2000 installing a windmill to provide electricity in the town.
“My dream has gone up in smoke. Forty-two years of work for nothing,” he lamented.
But worse, for him, was what he said was the reaction of his Muslim neighbours when the town was seized by the rebels.
“Women came out on their balconies shouting with joy, and children … did the same. I discovered that our friendship was superficial.”
…The most tragic story was that of Rasha, who recounted how the jihadists had seized her fiance Atef, who belonged to the town’s militia, and brutally murdered him.
“I rang his mobile phone and one of them answered,” she said.
“Good morning, Rash rush,” the voice said, using her nickname. “We are from the Free Syrian Army. Do you know your fiance was a member of the shabiha (pro-regime militia) who was carrying weapons, and we have slit his throat.”
The man told her Atef had been given the option of converting to Islam, but had refused.