Be careful. Don’t talk about this. You might harm the “Muslim/Christian dialogue.” “A grim Christmas for those driven from Syria’s Maalula,” from AFP, December 24 (thanks to AINA):
DAMASCUS // After fleeing a rebel assault on the historic Syrian town of Maalula, hundreds of Christian families sheltering in Damascus are preparing for a bleak Christmas away from home.
The picturesque hamlet “” where residents still speak the ancient Aramaic language used during biblical times “” was a symbol of the long Christian presence in Syria’s ethnic and religious mosaic, now shattered by war.
The residents of Maalula are among the millions of Syrians displaced by a war that shows no sign of ending, and what should be a joyful holiday season is instead the latest painful reminder of all that has been lost.
“The most beautiful gift I could possibly receive for Christmas would be to return to Maalula,” whispered Hneineh Taalab, who fled in early September, after militant Islamist fighters entered the town[.]
Ms Taalab is now sheltering at a Damascus convent and claims that Al Nusra Front, a rebel group with links to Al Qaeda, murdered her 20-year-old son Sarkis Zakhem when they took over Maalula on September 8, after four days of fighting troops loyal to President Bashar Al Assad.
“Al Nusra also killed my brother and my cousin because they refused to convert to Islam.”
The army briefly retook Maalula from rebels, but the troops were again expelled earlier this month as Nusra and other rebels swept into the mostly deserted town.
As Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios Laham III met with refugees in the dark and draughty church in Damascus, he prayed “for the return of love and hope” to Syria and mourned those who have been killed and kidnapped.
Christians, who make up about five per cent of Syria’s population, have largely avoided taking sides in the conflict, leading hardline rebel groups to charge them with being complicit with the regime.
About 1,200 Christians are among the estimated 126,000 people killed in the conflict, according to the patriarch.
Another 450,000 Christians have been displaced, while 60 churches have been destroyed and residents of 24 villages forced to flee, he said.
No one knows exactly what happened to 12 nuns taken by rebels from their Maalula convent in early December, or the two kidnapped Orthodox bishops, or an Italian Jesuit priest who went missing.
“It is terrible. We are all under threat, Christians and Muslims,” the patriarch said….
That is true: the Sunni jihadists are targeting Christians, Alawites and Shi’ite Muslims. The Shi’ite jihadists are targeting Christians, Alawites, and Sunni Muslims.