Syria's Assad Visits Recaptured Christian Town of Maalula
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian President Bashar Assad on Easter Sunday visited the ancient Christian town of Maalula, which his troops recently recaptured from rebels, state television said.
"On the day of the resurrection of Christ, and from the heart of Maalula, President Assad hopes all Syrians have a happy Easter, and for the reestablishment of peace and security throughout Syria," the channel announced in a caption at the bottom of the screen, without showing images of the visit.
It added that Assad had inspected the Mar Sarkis (Saint Sergius and Bacchus) monastery, damaged in recent fighting. It said the damage had been caused by "terrorists," using the regime's term for rebels.
Founded in the fifth century, the monastery is one of the Middle East's oldest. It is dedicated to two Roman Christian soldiers who were killed by emperor Galerius because of their faith.
The Facebook page of the Syrian presidency posted a picture of Assad standing next to a Christian priest. He held what appeared to be damaged friezes showing the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
Backed by Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah, Syria's army took control of Maalula last Monday.
Located north of Damascus, Maalula is one of the world's oldest Christian settlements, and its inhabitants still speak Aramaic, the language of Christ.
Rebels and their jihadist ally Al-Nusra Front had taken control of Maalula in early December. They kidnapped 13 nuns and traded them for women prisoners held in regime jails in March.
Assad has rarely made public appearances since the outbreak of a revolt against his regime in March 2011.
Syria's large Christian minority has sought neutrality throughout the three-year war, and has viewed the Sunni-led rebels with growing concern as jihadists have flocked to their ranks.
20 April 2014, 14:57
76
maybe Bashar could release maloula nuns, kept under house arrest ?
20 April 2014, 19:52
41
Crush - read Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations about the wanton criminilaty of this regime you support. May be it will give you a moment to pause - that if you had an ounce of honor. t
20 April 2014, 15:05
67
How ironic, his forces shelled monasteries and churches in maloula and now he's visiting the place on easter...
Propaganda at its best...
20 April 2014, 16:45
55
HYPOCRIT. You are using the christians just to appear as savior of minorities. You had no qualms in bombing civilianchristian regions in Lebanon during the lebanese civil war.
20 April 2014, 17:45
55
Southern. Your post is filled with inadequacies.
first, the americans were not our partners. Americans wanted to kick out christians from lebanon and replace them with pals. If you read some history, read about the kissinger plan, and educate your little immigrant person. Americans were the worst enemies of the christians.
Second If you invite a friend over to help fix your washing machine, does that entitle him to steal the washing machine? They helped with the pals, that does not entitle them to take the country. All the sa3eqa left lebanon, while they stayed and took roots here. So that short sighted christian hater "it is your fault" argument falls too.
20 April 2014, 17:49
54
Third what bothers me most about Assad is that HE WORKS FULL TIME TO PREVENT LEBANON FROM PROSPERING. The bastard kills every single patriot who would have made lebanon great. From Bachir gemayel to hariri all the way to Chate7. Fhama ba2a.
Fourth, the takfiris were busy in yemen and somalia and afghanistan. Your buddy assad tried to put them in nahr el bared but failed. His attack on demonstrators later caused every single sunni syrian to become takfiri. Assad MANUFACTURED THE TAKFIRIS. He also imported to syria to justify his sorry excuse of a regime.
The difference between me and you, is that I hate israel and condemn it because of their actions on our south. You dont hate assad for killing every great lebanese leader. and that makes you a selfish nonpatriotic pro-HA half lebanese. Not a full Lebanese.
20 April 2014, 18:01
33
I dont consider you small because you are immigrant. I consider you small because you dont have empathy with your brothers lebanese.
You dont feel what we feel. You dont find it in your heart to fully hate Assad like we all hate Israel.
20 April 2014, 18:10
54
at this point of the discussion, southern should call lebfirst a takfiri/zionist coz he couldnt convince him of bowing to gangster khamenei...
20 April 2014, 18:20
44
FT. This is not the point. My point is that for lebanese to start living together in peace, M8 have to realize that Assad wants us evil like Israel wants us evil. That is it.
As for age... I wish I was 12...
20 April 2014, 19:42
22
FT. What he does for Syria, and what his father do in syria, we can argue about it on an intellectual superficial level, whether he was good or bad for syria.
But I am glad that we agree that insofar that Lebanon is concerned, he wants us evil. Like Israel wants us evil. The only people who we should count on is us.
20 April 2014, 20:28
42
peacelover, that is a fact that all of the Assad cheerleaders gloss over.
20 April 2014, 20:41
32
against all odds ?
5 powers at the security council + Israel & Iran support the giraffe...
20 April 2014, 17:07
45
Assad regime inflicted the worse disaster to the Christian community in Lebanon. Why? Because unlike our Muslim brothers in Lebanon, we (Christians) refused to bow to this occupier of our beloved land Lebanon.
This regime has no friends. This regime has slaves. You need to bow to this regime in order to be a friend of this regime.
Now they are inflicting the same misery to the Sunni sector.
Who is Assad fooling now. He thinks we (Christians) are going to buy his tactic.
The day this guy Assad gets hung for all the crimes he committed will be a day of true celebration. Deep in my heart I know this day will come soon. Assad is the killer of innocent babies. He did it in Lebanon and he is doing it in Syria to his own people.
20 April 2014, 17:11
45
I know it is Easter, and as Christian, I should forgive... But I will never forgive nor will I forget what this regime has done to our people in Lebanon. I lost so many friends and relatives mainly in Zahle during the war that I think about them every day because of this regime.
Justice has to prevail. The only way justice will prevail is when Assad gets the rope... Nothing else...
20 April 2014, 17:56
33
zahleh.
When our glorious resistance was resisting pals, and later resisting Assad, syrian christians didnt budge. They didnt say a word. Hell! the head of moukhabarat was christian. Did u know that?
When the heroic city of Zahleh defeated the Assadist forces and its russian weapons, syrian christians were watching and eating popcorn.
I feel more affinity to my moslem brothers in lebanon (the patriotic kind) than with syrian christians.
20 April 2014, 19:18
34
lebanon_first, I feel the same and I agree with you... Syrian Christians were eating popcorn while the Christians in Lebanon being slaughtered by the regime... Sadly, the Syrian Christians were not sympathetic to the Lebanese Christians at all... Actually I know some close friends to my family who are Syrian Christians were rejoicing when Assad was bombing the Christian areas in Lebanon...
20 April 2014, 19:42
54
Roar-wolf: most of those supporting the criminal regime in Syria are sectarian drones that could care less for any Sunni. I remind you that when the interests of this same regime called, they oppressed Christians, Druse, Ismaelis, Kurds and other Alawites as well. But this regime is now trying to gain credibility as defender of the same minorities it oppressed by conducting a genocidal war against the majority Sunni Arabs. Even among Sunnis, he tries to use wedge issues that as religious verus secular, city versus countryside, affluent versus poor ... All for the sake of a criminal and corrupt regime.
20 April 2014, 20:25
45
How nice the Killer giraffe is on a propaganda mission and his simple minded stooges are here to cheer him on.
20 April 2014, 21:58
21
Let me make one thing clear: The entire reason Maalula was retaken was because Putin himself has an obligation to defend Christians. If Assad failed this task, he would lose support from Russia. In other words? NEITHER the Regime or the Nusra give a damn about Christians, and are used from both sides.
20 April 2014, 22:00
20
Yeah they forgot that part, just left it out so others would forget lol
