| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian army attacks hills around Christian village |
| 2013-09-10 |
| A Syrian activist group says the army is attacking hills overlooking a rebel-held Christian-majority village near the capital Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says fighters from the Jabhat Al Nusra or Nusra Front and the Qalamon Liberation Front still control Maaloula, an ancient village that is home to two of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria. Rami Abdul Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said troops attacked the hills around Maaloula early on Monday under the cover of heavy shelling. Rebels captured the village on Saturday. The battle has thrown a spotlight on the deep-seated fears that many of SyriaÂ’s religious minorities harbour about the growing role of extremists on the rebel side in SyriaÂ’s civil war. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 The Militants have repor taken Christian Nuns hostage, forced others to convert to Islam, + may threaten to use any Christian hostages as "bargaining chips" agz US-led attack agz Assad??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-09-10 23:30 |
| #10 Actually I'm an atheist, so you're wrong. Then you shouldn't have written in your previous post: Christians in the Middle East aren't real Christians like us And the Christians, who you don't believe to be true members of your faith because of the language in which their bibles are printed are not being expelled from Iraq. They are fleeing unpleasantness that can be downright nasty, but expulsion is a government order. Nor have the Christians been expelled from the West Bank, nor from Egypt, where it is decidedly difficult for Christians to leave. In Egypt they've been sending the kids abroad for school with instructions not to come back, and West Bankers have quietly joined the Christian Arab diaspora in the nations of Christendom, but then Palestinian Arabs have been decamping for more hospitable climes since 1948, regardless of personal faith. A survey some years back revealed that some three quarters of young Gazans would dearly love to emigrate, if only they could -- and according to the CIA Factbook the under twentyfives make up almost two thirds of the Gazan population. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-09-10 19:32 |
| #9 Them toppling our ally the Shah? What they did to that poor sick man? If I recall correctly, the Carter administration applied pressure to "our ally the Shah" to have Khomeini returned from Paris to act as a 'moderating force'. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-09-10 18:44 |
| #8 Seriously? You think the language in which the Bible is written matters, "FreedomFighter"? You, my dear sir, must be secretly Muslim Actually I'm an atheist, so you're wrong. We didn't have a problem when the Christians were being expelled from Iraq after Saddam was gone, and we don't have a problem with them being expelled from the West Bank, or Egypt so why the sudden concern about the Syrian ones? Don't let a dislike of Obama (that I share) pervert your views about what is right. We have to topple Assad. Once that is done, Iran stands alone, and we can finish them. Don't you guys remember the hostages? Them toppling our ally the Shah? What they did to that poor sick man? |
| Posted by: FreedomFighter 2013-09-10 18:38 |
| #7 I'm still trying to work out how Jesus spoke in red typeface. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-09-10 13:47 |
| #6 Aramic. There are several Christian villages in Syria where it's still spoken. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-09-10 13:38 |
| #5 Jesus? Aramaic, at least market Greek and Latin, and fluent Hebrew, as he is described as a religious prodigy. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-09-10 13:21 |
| #4 Eh... I'm fairly sure Jesus didn't speak English either. I don't know if he could speak the Latin of current superpower of the time (Rome) but I seriously doubt 'English as a Second Language' was offered in school. He didn't speak Arabic either. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2013-09-10 13:17 |
| #3 Christians in the Middle East aren't real Christians like us Seriously? You think the language in which the Bible is written matters, "FreedomFighter"? You, my dear sir, must be secretly Muslim -- they are the only ones who insist that the Qur'an can only be read in the original Arabic (although there are cogent arguments that much of it is merely transliterated from the original Aramaic -- vocabulary being like neon lights to the linguists). And OMG, Arabs who don't speak English??? You do realize that most of the residents of the region, outside of Israel, do not speak English, but rather speak their native tongue plus the Arabic of their Arabian conquerors? Or are you really so stupid as to think that Americans are not aware that in other countries people speak other languages? Still, you are highly amusing. I think we've got this week's chew toy, O Rantburgers. One of that lot that settled in Chicago or Detroit, I imagine based on language patterns, who fondly believe themselves unnoticed by the authorities. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-09-10 12:53 |
| #2 Christians in the Middle East aren't real Christians like us. In Lebanon they support Hezbollah against Israel. In Syria they support Assad against our allies and Israel. Don't be fooled just because they describe themselves as Christian. Even their bible is a translation into Arabic, its more like there Quran therefore - most of them don't even speak english. If you support these guys then you support Iran and you oppose Israel, its that simple. |
| Posted by: FreedomFighter 2013-09-10 11:50 |
| #1 I guess Assad gets blamed for the massacre (count on massacre) of Christians. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-09-10 02:30 |