Tag: Maaloula

Historic Syrian monastery to reopen following restoration

August 13, 2018 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, Maaloula, Minorities, Syria

Nuns are returning to the Orthodox Monastery of St. Tekla which was severely damaged in Syria's civil war. (Photo: Sergio & Gabriella via Flickr; CC 2.0)

A monastery in Syria, which was freed from occupation by rebel forces in 2014, is to re-open its doors to pilgrims and visitors following its restoration, reports Catholic news agency Fides. Some of the nuns have already started to return to the Orthodox Monastery of St. Tekla in the historic Christian . . . Read More

Syria: Christians and Yazidis among 250,000 displaced in Afrin

June 19, 2018 Syria Afrin, Aleppo, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, Islamic State, Kobani, Kurds, Maaloula, PKK, Raqqa, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sharia, Syria, Turkey, Yazidis

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels walk past a burning shop in Afrin on 18 March. (Photo: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Significant numbers of Christians and Yazidis have fled their homes in northern Syria’s Afrin enclave, World Magazine reports, ever since Islamist militants joined with the Turkish military this past January to oust Syrian Kurdish fighters from the region along Turkey’s border. Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) to . . . Read More

‘Christianity in Syria is under threat from forces the West is supporting’

June 11, 2018 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, Hezbollah, Human rights, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Maaloula, Middle East, Minorities, Russia, Salafism, Shia, Sunni, Syria, UK, USA

Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria could be wiped out by the very forces Western governments are supporting, an Anglican vicar has claimed. Rev. Andrew Ashdown, who has made ten trips to Syria since 2014 and is studying for a PhD in relations between Christians and Muslims there, also . . . Read More

Security not only concern for Syrians returning home

July 4, 2017 Syria Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, IDPs, Islamic State, Maaloula, Migrants, Refugees, Trauma, UN

As Islamic State forces are pushed back and more areas declared “safe”, Syrians are starting to return to their homes. According to the UN’s Refugee Agency (the UNHCR), nearly half a million have gone back since January. Around 440,000 internally displaced people, and more than 31,000 refugees who had fled . . . Read More

‘Coming back’ – a poem scribbled on a church wall in Homs

November 15, 2016 Syria Homs, Maaloula

Time has almost faded the message written on a church wall in Homs by someone who, like thousands of others, presumably had to flee the city quickly for safety or survival. The Syrian city, 166km north of Damascus, was soon taken over by Islamic fighters. Fierce fighting made living in . . . Read More

Syrian militants held for Maaloula nuns’ kidnap

August 11, 2016 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Maaloula, Syria

Two Syrians have been charged in Lebanon for taking part in the kidnapping three years ago of nuns from the Syrian historic town of Maaloula, close to the Lebanese border, 60km north-east of Damascus. Amer and Thaer Miskaf were described as militants of the Nusra Front, an Islamic jihadist group . . . Read More

‘Kill the Christians’

April 15, 2015 Iraq, Islamic extremism, Maaloula, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Syria

A BBC documentary, ‘Kill the Christians’, is available on the BBC iPlayer (for those with access) until April 14, 2015. The hour-long programme reports on how “Christianity is facing the greatest threat to its existence in the very place where it was born … the Middle East”. The documentary includes . . . Read More

Kidnappers release Syrian nuns

March 10, 2014 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Kidnapping, Maaloula, Syria, Women

A group of nuns kidnapped in Maaloula, Syria, in December were released early Monday, tired but unharmed. “God did not leave us,” Mother Pelagia Sayyaf, superior of the Mar Takla monastery in Maaloula, told news reporters after the nuns had been released to Syrian authorities as part of a prisoner . . . Read More

UK Parliament is told Christianity is ‘most persecuted religion’

December 4, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Baroness Warsi, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Human rights, Iraq, Kazakhstan, London, Maaloula, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Sadad, Syria

The Bishop Moussa Coptic Church in Minya was destroyted by pro-Morsi supporters in Egypt, many of whom blamed Christians for his overthrow.David Degner, Getty Images The plight of Christians around the world was discussed in a three-hour debate at the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday. Members of the . . . Read More

12 nuns ‘abducted’ as rebels recapture Maaloula

December 3, 2013 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Maaloula, Syria

Mar Takla, Maaloula.Richard / Flickr / Creative Commons The Vatican has reported that 12 nuns were abducted as opposition rebels captured Syria’s historically Christian town of Maaloula yesterday (December 2). The majority of the town’s Christian population is thought to have fled during clashes between government forces and rebels in . . . Read More

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