Syrian Rebels Seize Control of Christian Village

On September 5th it was reported Syrian rebels tried to overrun a Christian village but were unsuccessful because the Assad regime had the area under their protection despite being in the middle of rebel held territory but the terrorists haven't given up the fight to attack the Christians and gain a foothold against the Syrian forces.

SYRIAN REBELS SEIZE CONTROL OF CHRISTIAN VILLAGE

hosted.ap.org...

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Syrian rebels led by al-Qaida-linked fighters seized control of a predominantly Christian village northeast of Damascus, sweeping into the mountainside sanctuary in heavy fighting overnight and forcing hundreds of residents to flee, activists and locals said Sunday

After days of clashes in and around Maaloula, rebels captured the village following fierce fighting late Saturday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the assault was led by Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida-affiliated group, as well as by the Qalamon Liberation Front.

He said around 1,500 rebels were inside Maaloula, while the army had the village surrounded.

Syria's state news agency provided a dramatically different account of the battle, saying the military reported "progress" in its offensive in Maaloula.

"The army continued its military operation against terrorist elements in Maaloula village and its vicinity, inflicting a heavy casualty in the ranks of the terrorists, including their leaders," the news agency said.

State-run TV reported that all churches in Maaloula were now safe and the army was chasing gunmen in the western hills.

But residents of Maaloula reached by telephone described fierce battles in the streets that forced them and other locals to flee as opposition fighters flooded the village.

No surprise Syrian state TV is spewing propaganda of victory but this ancient Christian village is unfortunately stuck between a rock and hard place, the rock being Al Qaeda and the hard place being FSA controlled territories but the good news is Assad's forces aren't going to quit and will fight for the village against these rebel scum, and I don't like Assad but I hope his forces pull through and push Al Qaeda back yet again.

One resident said the rebels - many of them wearing beards and shouting, "God is great!" - attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after seizing the village.

"They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village," the resident said by telephone. "So many people fled the village for safety."

Now, he said, Maaloula "is a ghost town."

"Where is President Obama to see what befallen on us?" asked the man, who fled the village on Sunday. He declined to give his name out of fear for his safety.

Another resident who escaped earlier in the day said Assad's forces were deployed on the outskirts of the village, while gunmen inside refused to allow anybody in. He said that one of the churches, called Demyanos, had been torched and that gunmen stormed into two other churches and robbed them.

A third resident reached by phone said he saw militants forcing some Christian residents to convert to Islam.

"I saw the militants grabbing five villagers Wednesday and threatening them: `Either you convert to Islam or you will be beheaded,'" he said.

The two other residents said they heard rumors about such conversions but did not see them. The reports could not be independently verified. All three residents spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

Everyone pray for not only these poor Christians but all of Syria. Pray for all of the Middle East, or mediate, or whatever it is you do but keep them in your thoughts and wish for the violence to somehow, someway end.

As a side note, has anyone else noticed the amount of news these days that's being reported without any "verification"?

reply to post by Logarock


Are you saying this news hasn't been verified?

News being reported and not being verified isn't a new thing.

Well this AP story is a prop piece to be sure. But hay its hard when both sides want US and world support.

Muslims killing Christians, Christians killing Muslims. This is not news. This has been going on for over a thousand years. Isn't it time that our species started tolerating any difference of opinion or physical differences?
Even if somehow the civil war in Syria ended, another war somewhere else in the world would begin because
of our inability to tolerate differences.
If its not religion, its class or skin colour or sporting team. Whatever. It doesn't make me proud to be a member of the human race i'll tell you that much.
What is happening in Syria is terrible, but what can any of us actually do? Vent on a conspiracy website?
Ah! Job done.

reply to post by Logarock


Prop piece for sure? So are you saying this never happened? Please elaborate, because it sounds like your just throwing out accusations without any verification.

reply to post by kudegras


Al Qaeda trying to take control of an ancient Christian village in Syria, that was once a tourist destination, is news. What an ignorant post, but yes, you're right in the fact people do kill each other.

And why is the USA backing these rebels

reply to post by Swills


Not an ignorant post Mate, just reality. What can you or I actually do. If your President decides to send missiles to Syria and kill many more innocents you can post here all you like but it wont change one whit of fact that Christians and Muslims have been at this for a thousand years.
Did we not see the US take control of many Islamic villages in Iraq not to mention the many thousands killed in the process, So do you believe you should now invade Syria as well to teach the Syrian people how they should lead their lives. Where does it stop Mate? I am no happier than you with what is going on in Syria, but a life is a life whether it is Christian, Muslim, Buddhist it doesn't matter. What I don't get is you make such a big point of Muslims seize control od Christian village, that's my point.

What the heck ? I just liked a page a few days ago on Facebook that had dam near the same artical ,but in the artical it talked about assad trying to take the city and the FSA was doing the protecting , it does not make sens to me as a Muslim my self ,destroying a site like this is forbidden , i mean it's been their this long , why are they trying to destroy it now ? ....this don't make any sens to me at all

reply to post by Logarock

I saw this reported on RT,there was a woman reporter with Assad's forces on the outskirts,on Saturday afternoon.
No villagers had been reported as killed by that time,and I did watch the full newsclip,so if this happened,it happened very suddenly.

They mentioned this town being a UNESCO site? And that the rebels were confident Obama would not fire at them/bomb them in a unesco site-also there was mention of a warren of ancient caves under one of the churches,that they were thought to be holing up in.Well that was Saturdays's newsclip re this matter on RT.

I am not surprised to hear this report of rebel advancement toward Damascus. The front line with Army forces must be somewhere and now in this town.
No attrocities are being commuted to civilians just temporary displacement.
Coordination with US is occurring so no war crimes are occurring now or in the future until a proposed peace agreement is signed soon.

reply to post by kudegras


I think thebpoint he is making, contrary to what you believw it is, is that the people the our (US) govt wants to suport are the bad guya committing atrocities.

Originally posted by Logarock
As a side note, has anyone else noticed the amount of news these days that's being reported without any "verification"?

The fog of war makes it very hard to verify much of anything.
I"m not trying to make excuses ....
But that really is true. FOG of war ... sometimes things happen that can't be proven.
And sometimes things get reported as happening that don't.

It's messy.

reply to post by Raxoxane


I'm not surprised. I knew the rebels our govt supports would get paranoid. They know they are committing atrocities and are connected to out enemies. I guess its possible we would bomb both army and rebels, but I doubt it. We don't carw what happens as long as the country is destabilized.

Let me put this in perspective.

Darth Vadar wants Lex Luthor to attack Hitler.

(names are interchangable)

*Thank you folks, I'll be here all week, remember to tip your waitresses!

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by Logarock
As a side note, has anyone else noticed the amount of news these days that's being reported without any "verification"?

The fog of war makes it very hard to verify much of anything.
I"m not trying to make excuses ....
But that really is true. FOG of war ... sometimes things happen that can't be proven.
And sometimes things get reported as happening that don't.

It's messy.

I appreciate that. However it seems a day doesn't go by that a person can hear or read a news bit that starts out or ends with the caveat "unconfirmed". We have from Sandy Hook now whole interpretation of the event that have spun off and have their foundation on early unconfirmed reports. We need to keep an eye on this. Its a wonderful tool for spreading bad info or propaganda.

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by Logarock

 

Prop piece for sure? So are you saying this never happened? Please elaborate, because it sounds like your just throwing out accusations without any verification.

I am calling it a prop piece because it hits all the emotive buttons, touches on historic areas of agitation such as the "unconfirmed" reports that villagers were being forced to convert at gunpoint. Makes Assad look like a bit of a christian savior. Its more the way its written than what it reports. Its just a custom made report intended to confirm our worst fears here in the christian west.

Some say Christians in this Syrian village are being forced to convert to Islam or die.

Yes this has been going on for ages, but you cannot deny Christianity is under their thumb, and persecuted in these countries that are predominantly Islamic.

The 'almost unremarked' tragedy of Christians persecuted in the Middle East
www.telegraph.co.uk...

The numbers don't lie

“We used to have 1.5 million Christians, now we have probably only got 200,000 left in Iraq. There are more Iraqi Christians in Chicago than here.”

worldnews.nbcnews.com...

I am not for war in Syria, but to deny Christians are being persecuted is nonsense.

Syrian rebels to Christians: Flee or die!
www.wnd.com...

Listen to how quiet it is regarding the Christian persecution?

Do you hear crickets?

Any article that is presented on the issue is immediately discounted?

reply to post by stormdancer777


Well lets be real honest and understand that this story about christian persecution is simply being used for propaganda reasons.

As you have said Muslim persecution of christians has been going on for a long time. Centuries in fact. However they have always maintained some foothold in Muslim lands. Muslims have always went on periodic tears trying to convert at sword point.

The above news story sounds like it could have been front page news during the Crusades.