In September 2013, the so-called Syrian “rebels” attacked and overtook the ancient Christian town with an Assyrian/Syriac population that speaks Western Neo-Aramaic (language of Christ), Ma’loula. The town is located 56 km to the northeast of Damascus, and built into the rugged mountainside at an altitude of more than 1500 meters.
Al-Qaeda linked group, Al-Nusra Front, was based in Ma’loula Mountains near the Safir hotel. It was reported that the jihadists were harassing the Christian people of the village since then. It was also reported that a Christian farmer could not go up to the area to farm his land, located near the hotel, unless he was accompanied by a Muslim resident of the village.
The Syrian Army has recently cleared the Christian city of Maaloula from extremist al-Qaeda-linked militants after intense fighting, as many channels reported. Maaloula contains a large statue of the Virgin Mary, both Orthodox and Catholic monasteries, and remains one of the few places where Western Aramaic is still spoken.
The new victory for SAA (Syrian Arab Army) in the city comes after a string of successes for the Syrian army in the strategic al-Qalamoun region, including the freedom of the former militant bastion of Yabrud near Lebanon border last month.
“Our three young men who sacrificed their souls, are now our new crosses which we are rising towards God. This might be the path; because without the cross we will get no resurrection. After the pain; the happiness always comes, I wish they are with us from above in these prayers. I hope they are happy with all their deeds on this earth.” said Father Fadi Barkil, priest from Maaloula
While President Assad controlled Syria, the Christian population had largely been protected from sectarian attacks from radical Islamist groups, including the al-Nusra Front. However, the Christian population and other sects (like Alawite)s have recently faced a campaign of kidnappings, beheadings and violence, particularly in areas controlled by rebels who are still fighting against the Syrian government.
Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, “Gregory III Laham,” said the Syrian Arab Army’s victory in Maaloula will symbolize the liberation of every human being and every inch in Syria.
In a phone call with Al-Mayadeen TV channel, on Monday April, 14, Patriarch Laham saluted every soldier in Syria, asserting that everywhere terrorist groups leave only destruction and ruin in areas they enter, adding that eyewitnesses informed him of the damage caused to St. Thecla Convent after armed groups entered it.
“Our ancestors built these convents, and we will restore their beauty and splendor with the prayers and affection of the faithful,” he said, voicing confidence that he will visit Maaloula soon.
Maaloula fell to hands of al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front last December, as the armed forces focused their attention on capturing towns along the Damascus-Homs highway.
The picturesque town is considered a symbol of the ancient Christian presence in Syria, and its 5,000 pre-war residents are among the few in the world who still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.
Many websites also reported that the terrorist militants were scared, adding that they fled the liberated areas as SAA rode in with more than 50 vehicles, heading to the surrounding area of Arsal and other areas near Syrian-Lebanese borders.
When the town was taken by militants, 13 nuns were captured from their convent and held by Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists until a prisoner swap in March, 2013.
Picture: A nun at the convent hangs a cross around the neck of a Syrian journalist for protection and in thanksgiving – 11/09/2013.
Many of Ma’loula’s people left after the first rebel assault knocked out an army checkpoint at the entrance to the strategic town on September 4, when a truck driven by a Jordanian suicide bomber exploded near a checkpoint of the Syrian Army, at the entrance of Ma’loula. The explosion gave the signal for attacking the city. The terrorists took control of the checkpoint, killing eight soldiers and disabling two tanks, according to opposition sources. Afterwhich, the Syrian Air Force led three raids against the checkpoint after its capture.
Some fled to a nearby village and others to Damascus. 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,” Islamists’ term for Christians, Marie said in Damascus, where she and hundreds of others attended the burial of three Christian pro-government killed in the fighting.
During the fighting, terrorists captured the Safir hotel and used it to fire in the direction of the community below. At the end of the day, the terrorists took control of several segments of this historical town.
A 62-year-old Adnan Nasrallah said an explosion destroyed an archway just across from his house that leads into the town. “I saw people wearing al-Nusra headbands who started shooting at crosses,” said Nasrallah.
Nasrallah spent 42 years running a restaurant – which he named Maaloula – in the US state of Washington and had returned to Syria just before the conflict broke out in March 2011.
“I had a great dream. I came back to my country to promote tourism. I built a guesthouse and spent $2,000 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.
Official Syrian news agency quoted a military source as saying that the mountains surrounding Sarkha area were in the hands of the Syrian army soldiers, who defeated large numbers of the foreign-backed terrorists.
Earlier, the Syrian army established full control over the eastern heights overlooking Rankous plain, as SANA reported. The Syrian agency quoted a field commander who named the heights: Ra’as Tahoun al-Hawa hill, the name now attached to the plateau overlooking the Lebanese town of al-Tufail and Jamea’a al-Nour hill. The commander noted that the Syrian army carried out a series of precise and concentrated operations in the area, killing a number of terrorists and destroying their weapons. He added that the army units also dismantled explosive devices planted by terrorists.
Although the city again finds some stability, it doesn’t bring back the losses and damage experienced by those like Nassrallah. Whether the Syrians want Assad is a different question than if they want foreign-backed, destructive, religious extremists. It is thus worth celebrating that the historical city of Ma’loula again has its freedom.