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7:46PM BST 05 Sep 2013 Fighting raged through the picturesque mountain village of Maaloula, near Damascus, on Thursday, as the regime launched a counter-attack against the rebels. "They entered the main square and smashed a statue of the Virgin Mary," said one resident of the area, speaking by phone and too frightened to give his name. "They shelled us from the nearby mountain. Two shells hit the St Thecla convent." Maaloula, tucked into the honey-coloured cliffs of a mountain range north of Damascus and on a "tentative" list of applicants for Unesco world heritage status, is associated with the earliest...

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Christians in Syria were fleeing one of the oldest Christian towns in the world on Sunday, after regime forces failed to win it back from Islamist rebel fighters.Rebel groups, including a branch of al-Qaeda, have taken control of Maaloula, one of the few remaining villages where the language of Christ is still spoken, residents and activists reported. “Our army, the Syrian army, has failed us,” said Sister Antoinette, a nun from Maaloula, claiming the regime had forsaken control of the town. “We called the army, we begged them to come inside Maalouola and save us but they stayed outside. They...

MAALOULA, Syria (CNS) -- Aramaic, the language of Jesus that flourished in villages thousands of years ago, is being kept alive in the Syrian desert, about an hour's drive from Damascus. Today, Aramaic is spoken in Maaloula, an ancient mountainous town with two historic monasteries, Catholic and Orthodox, both built into the cliffs. Georgette Halabi, a tour guide at St. Serge Melkite Catholic convent in Maaloula, grew up speaking Aramaic. "I don't write it," she said. "But I want to learn." Local residents' Arabic education has never offered formal instruction in written Aramaic, but they have managed to pass down...

Rebels including Al-Qaeda-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of Damascus, Syrian activists and residents said Sunday, but government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle, suggesting regime forces were winning. It was impossible to independently verify the reports from Maaloula, a scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites. The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by the Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among...

“We knew our Muslim neighbours all our lives,” Georgios says .... we thought they would never betray us. We ate with them. We are one people. Every time there is a conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims, "moderate" Muslims always join the jihadis. We've seen this time and time again all over the world. This is never discussed in the media. Read this.  "Syria crisis: In sacred Maaloula, where they speak the language of Christ, war leads neighbours into betrayal"  The Independent, September 28, 2013 (thanks to Filip) Muslims and Christians had lived together in this town of churches and...

Details: The Syrian Greek-Catholic Church has three “true martyrs”. They are the “three men from Maaloula who refused to repudiate their faith,” and were killed for this reason, said Patriarch Gregory III Laham during his meeting with Pope Francis on Sunday, this according to a press release issued by the Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem of the Melkites.The events that led to the three men’s death occurred during fighting on 3 -7 September in the town of Maaloula.According to eyewitness accounts, men from the Syrian Free Army and the Jabhat al-Nusra Islamic Front...

And as those three men were confronted with the choice of Islam or death, the Muslim neighbors of the Christians of Maaloula terrorized them: "According to what the families who fled from Maaloula had to say, some of their Muslim neighbours took part in the attack that devastated this historic village where people still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus."The above photo and caption are from the June 19, 2013 New York Times. It illustrates how the call to jihad can override all existing loyalties -- such that a Syrian Alawite can suddenly be murdered by his Sunni friend. There...

A great report by BBC News on how the Syrian Army are fighting the Islamist rebels to take back Maaloula:

A great report by BBC News on how the Syrian Army are fighting the Islamist rebels to take back Maaloula: (Watch video at link above) Here’s another video from AFP which suggests the Syrian Army has made great strides in beating back the rebels: Syria army makes 'major advance' in Christian town So why again were we planning to attack Assad?

An al Qaeda-linked rebel group has wrested control of the historic Christian town of Maaloula from regime forces, opposition groups said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the hardline Islamist rebels of the al-Nusra Front seized control Saturday night. Videos posted on YouTube in recent days showed fighting between rebels and government forces in the tiny sleepy town, an hour's drive from the capital Damascus. "We cleansed Maaloula from all the Assad dogs and all his thugs," a rebel commander shouts at the camera in a video posted online over the weekend. What the capture will mean for...

Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels continue to haunt the predominantly Christian town of Maaloula as regime fighters struggle to regain power there. Maaloula, about 35 miles northeast of Damascus, the capital, is nestled under a large cliff, the summit of which is controlled by the rebels. “Invisible” snipers continue to pepper the residents below. “We never see them, but we hear the shots fired by their Dragunovs,” the Russians’ favorite sniper rifle, said a soldier as he hid behind a wall, Agence France-Presse reported. ... al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels in Maaloula had forced at least one person to convert to Islam at gunpoint...

A BBC correspondent in Syria has said the battle for an ancient Christian town is continuing, despite reports that government forces had retaken it. Jeremy Bowen said that a heavy gunfight with rebels was continuing in Maaloula, with smoke rising into the sky. He added that he had not seen evidence confirming religious sites had been damaged by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. Then on Sunday, activists said government soldiers and pro-government militiamen had been forced to pull back to the outskirts following a fresh rebel assault. Fighting over the town, 55km (34 miles) north of Damascus, began last week after rebels attacked...

"Christians and Muslims had always lived in an atmosphere of mutual trust; the attack on Maaloula has created a lot of distress." Islamists have invaded homes and continue to threaten the village, site of ongoing clashes between rebels and the army. The families who fled to Damascus and Beirut tell their story. The goal is to drive out Christians in order to eliminate Christianity.Beirut (AsiaNews) - According to families who fled Maaloula (Syria), some of their Muslim neighbours were involved in the attack that devastated their village located about fifty kilometres from Damascus, dispersing its residents. Perceived as a betrayal...

Rebels overran the ancient Christian village of Maaloula in Syria on the fourth of September, and held it for eleven days until the Syrian army could retake it. It always made for a curious target in a broad civil war. Maaloula had no particular strategic value; it’s 56 kilometers north of Damascus in rugged mountain territory, enough of a backwater that it’s one of the few places where Aramaic is still spoken along with Arabic. It’s off the highway between Damascus and Homs, and away from the railroad that links the two Syrian cities. Why bother with Maaloula at all?Lee...

This file picture taken on June 29, 2009, shows a general view of the Christian Syrian village of Maalula, 60 kms north of Damascus. AFP PHOTO Syrian rebels, including jihadist groups, captured the historic Christian town of Maalula north of Damascus Dec. 2, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rebels assaulted the town by rolling explosive-filled tyres down the hills onto regime forces and were able to reach the city centre after three days of intense fighting, with clashes still raging in the surrounding areas. The picturesque town is considered a symbol of the ancient Christian presence in Syria,...

Eyewitness: "The aim of the militants was to kill as many as possible Christian inhabitants" On September 5th the Syrian opposition armed groups attempted to capture Maalula, the town populated mostly by Christians, located 60 km from Damascus. The correspondent of "Voice of Russia" got in touch with the eyewitness to the events, which was in town during the assault, Vail Malas. Maalula town is best known for the fact that its inhabitants speak a dialect of Aramaic, which is close to the language of Jesus Christ. Government troops repulsed the attack, but the militants related to "Dzhabhat en-Nusra" and...

Located 50 km from Damascus in the direction of Lebanon is the magnificent village of Maalula (also spelled Maaloula), Syria. Maalula is the only place in the world that still speaks Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mar Sarkis-Greek CatholicMaalula is a predominantly Christian village with a population of about 2,000. It is the home of two ancient Christian monasteries: Mar Sarkis and Mar Taqla. Both Christians and Muslim pilgrims come to Maalula seeking blessings. Maalula means "the entrance" in Aramaic, referring to its dramatic location at the entrance to a rocky gorge. Maalula perches on the slopes of the Kalamun...