Vatican Ambassador to Syria Mario Zenari said Tuesday that 12 nuns, including the convent’s Mother Superior, had been removed from Maaloula to a militant-held town some 20 kilometers away, following heavy clashes with government forces Monday.
Rebels “forced the sisters to evacuate and to follow them toward Yabroud,” Zenari told Reuters from Damascus via telephone, adding that he did not know the reasons for the nuns being forced to leave.
The rebels then relocated the nuns from the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla to the nearby town of Yabrud, the Vatican envoy to Syria added.
In the video, broadcast by Al Jazeera, more than a dozen nuns were filmed in their traditional black garments sitting on couches around a room.
Asked by a man not seen in the footage if they had been taken against their will, one of the nuns denied it, saying they had left the monastery to escape the shelling, and that they would be released after two days.
"We are being treated well. They brought us from the convent, out from under the shelling ... they rescued us, and we're very happy with them," another nun said.
No mention was made about when or where the video was filmed.
RT Arabic talked to Mahmoud Diab, the Sunni imam of the town, who doubted the footage was taken with the nuns’ voluntary agreement.
“We know they cannot exercise free will and [have to] say what the armed kidnappers order them to. This is not the first statement of this kind; a similar one appeared when militants assaulted Maaloula for the first time.”
The pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Friday reported that a militant group, "Free Qalamoun," had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the sisters and wanted to exchange them for a thousand female prisoners said to be held by the government.
Diab doubted such demands could be met.
“We are working hard to release the women without preconditions,” he told RT Arabic. “Actually, there are no so many women in Syrian prisons.”
Diab slammed the kidnappers for using the nuns to manipulate world media and promote own goals.
“We object to using the nuns as a [commodity]. Before Maaloula came under fresh attack, we were just one step away from reaching an agreement to release other Christian brothers and sisters from the town. The nuns are not their only hostages,” he said.
Syria's Christian minority has sometimes found itself caught in the middle of the fighting in the civil war, which, having started in March of 2011, is quickly approaching its third year.
rt.com
7/12/13
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Lebanon makes efforts to release nuns seized by Syrian militants...
ReplyDeleteLebanon has started making mediatory efforts to secure the release of the Maaloula nuns who were seized by Syrian rebels at a monastery.
On the instruction of Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, head of the country’s security service Abbas Ibrahim left for Doha, Qatar, to make efforts to get the release of 12 women, including several Lebanese nationals, LBC TV channel reported.
Earlier, Abbas Ibrahim played an important role in the release of 11 Shia pilgrims from Lebanon who had been more than one year in the hands of militants in Aazaz in northern Syria.
According to the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat, the hostages are in a villa on the outskirts of the city of Yabrud, 57 kilometers away from Damascus.
Read more: http://indian.ruvr.ru/news/2013_12_07/Lebanon-makes-efforts-to-release-nuns/
7/12/13
Syrie: sombre Noël à Damas pour les réfugiés de Maaloula...
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Dans l'église Saint Joseph à Doueilaa, un quartier populaire de l'est de Damas, elle peine à retenir ses larmes. "J'avais une fille et trois garçons, mais j'ai perdu l'un d'eux".
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"Outre Sarkis, Al-Nosra a tué mon frère et mon cousin parce qu'ils ont refusé de se convertir à l'islam", assure cette femme qui a trouvé refuge avec sa famille dans un couvent à Damas.
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Cette bourgade, majoritairement chrétienne, doit sa renommée à ses refuges troglodytiques datant des premiers siècles du christianisme. Sa population peut monter jusqu'à 4.500 habitants pendant la période estivale.
A l'approche des fêtes, par une journée glaciale à Damas dans l'église sans chauffage, le Patriarche grec catholique Gregorios Laham III distribue des cadeaux -quelques billets dans une enveloppe- aux enfants de Maaloula et aux "familles des martyrs".
Mais les visages sont fermés. Tout semble dérisoire face aux terribles épreuves subies.
"Nous voulons rentrer à Maaloula, quand elle sera libérée", dit Jessica, 7 ans, emmitouflée dans son anorak rose.
"Ni sapin, ni crèche"
Rima Hilal, 48 ans, n'a pas le c?ur à la fête. Elle affirme avoir fui Maaloula "à cause des hommes armés". Après en avoir été rapidement chassés, les rebelles ont repris, le 2 décembre, la totalité de la ville chrétienne.................http://www.rtl.be/info/monde/international/1057165/syrie-sombre-noel-a-damas-pour-les-refugies-de-maaloula
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A Antakya, base arrière des rebelles syriens en Turquie....
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