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Jihadist rebels, Assad loyalists fight for control of Syrian countryside

Monday, September 9, 2013 | Tag Cloud Tags: Bashar Assad, Syria | Learn about our FREE SYNDICATION Service | Start your day with the Worthy Brief! | Printer Friendly

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (Worthy News)– In the battle for Syria between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebel jihadist factions, violent contests for the control of small Christian villages are often under-reported by the mainstream media.

Typical is Maaloula: this small mountain village 40 miles northeast of Damascus has become yet another battleground where al-Qaida-affiliated rebels have challenged the Assad regime for control of Syria’s countryside.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, said that despite the presence of government troops, jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra assaulted Maaloula Wednesday night when a suicidal jihadi detonated a car bomb at a government checkpoint at the village entrance.

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The suicide bombing was followed by fierce fighting as rebels seized the checkpoint by disabling two tanks and killing eight government soldiers, according to Abdul-Rahman.

The rebels later took control of the Safir hotel on a nearby mountain top from where they reigned down fire upon Maaloula; some villagers took refuge inside the St. Thecla convent that already sheltered nuns and orphans.

Abdul-Rahman reported that there has been fighting between Assad’s troops and the Nusra Front fighters in the mountains surrounding Maaloula after the rebels left the village Thursday morning.

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