Maaloula, The Syrian Town Where The Last Remaining Speakers Of Aramaic (The Language of Jesus) Live, Under Attack From Al-Qaeda Linked Rebel Units Supported By The United States

The sound of artillery reverberated Thursday (Sep 5th 2013) through Maaloula, a predominantly Christian village north of Damascus, as government troops and al-Qaeda-linked rebels battled for control of the mountainside sanctuary. The hit-and-run attacks on the ancient village of Maaloula, one of the few places in the world where residents still speak Aramaic, highlighted fears among Syria’s religious minorities about the growing role of extremists among those fighting in the (so-called) civil war (which in reality is a World War) to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Maaloula is a mountain village of around 2,000 residents who are of the very few remaining people in the world that still speak the Aramaic language, the ancient language of biblical times also believed to have been spoken by Jesus. The town includes many holy sites such as the "Dawn" (Groove) rock which is said to have facilitated the escape of Saint Mar Takla who managed to flee her father's guards who wanted to kill her after adopting the Christian faith. It is also famous for two of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria – Mar Sarkis and Mar Takla.

Fighting in Maaloula began early Wednesday (Sep 4th 2013) when militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra stormed in after a suicide bomber struck an army checkpoint guarding the entrance of the town. The group – listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department – is one of the most effective fighting forces among anti-government armed militias. The suicide attack triggered battles that terrorized residents in the village. Jabhat al-Nusra militants committed appalling massacres, burned the Church of Mar Elias Zealot, one of the oldest churches in the world, sabotaged other churches in the town and destroyed included icons while inviting locals to abandon their Christian faith as to adopt Islam instead. Locals tried to stand up to this armed invasion but most of them were killed. Al-Qaeda militants detonated a car bomb at the entrance of the town while firing rockets at Mar Elias Zealot and Mar Girgis churches which they, later, managed to occupy and use them as platforms to launch their gunfire attacks on the town.

The fighting came as President Barack Obama’s administration pressed the U.S. Congress for its authorization of a military strike against the Assad regime, while the president arrived at a G-20 summit in Russia expected to be overshadowed by Syria.

Online video showed rebels in the streets, some firing truck-mounted heavy machine guns in all directions. The video appeared authentic and matched Associated Press reporting on the fighting. Residents said Wednesday the rebels took over the mountaintop Safir hotel and were firing in the direction of the community below (The footage clearly shows the terrorists are shooting randomly at the homes of the people, and not at government forces! They come, they terrorize, they murder in the name of their sick twisted form of religion, which they themselves, don’t even follow. They are heavily armed by the United States and gulf Arabs! Thank you John McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry).

Al-Mayadeen TV, a Lebanese station who has an embed with the Syrian army, broadcast live images from the area Thursday evening that showed smoke rising from behind the hotel, suggesting the military was shelling it. The nun said about 100 people from the village took refuge in the St. Takla convent that she helps run. The 27 orphans who live there had been taken to nearby caves overnight “so they were not scared,” she said.

Until recently, the town had managed to remain mostly unaffected by the civil war. Its worst suffering was the lack of pilgrims and tourists who are normally vital to the economy when the village was ringed by government checkpoints.

In 2008, Assad and his wife, Asma, visited the St. Takla convent, eating with Christian orphans there. In the same year, Assad took former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for a stroll in the area.

The attack highlights fears among Syrian Christians that the alternative to Assad’s regime, made up mostly of Alawites – followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam – would not tolerate minority religions.

The nun who spoke to AP said there were reports that the militants threatened villagers with death if they did not convert. The report could not be independently confirmed. “It’s a war,” she said.

Such fears have allowed Assad to retain the support of large sections among Syria’s minorities, which includes Christians, Alawites, Druze and ethnic Kurds, throughout the 2 1/2 year (so-called) civil war (which in reality is a World War).

(c) National Post 2013

PS: People of Maaloula drew up a letter to the US congress explaining how the Al-Qaeda linked and US supported militants attacked the town, terrorized and killed its people, and destroyed its historic Christian monuments. In this letter, and in reference to Jabhat al-Nusra's bloody attack on the town, the people of Maaloula condemn how the so-called "international conscious" is selective when it comes to categorizing who is a terrorist and who is not!

Red font = my comments and/or info collected from other sources.

 

Maaloula - Syria



Maaloula - Syria



Maaloula - Syria



Maaloula - Syria


Maaloula - Syria


Maaloula - Syria

 

Former head of CIA in 2006: we will use Islamists to subvert régimes in Egypt, Libya, and Syria

James Woolsey, former head of CIA and eminent member of JINSA (the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs), announces in 2006 the intention to use Islamists to subvert régimes in Egypt, Libya, and Syria.
 

رئيس وكالة المخابرات الأمريكية CIA السابق "جيمس وولسي" يعلن في 2006:
سنصنع لهم إسلاماً يناسبنا ثم نجعلهم يقومون بالثورات ثم يتم انقسامهم على بعض لنعرات تعصبية . ومن بعدها قادمون للزحف وسوف ننتصر".( لاحظ كيف ذكر سوريا و ليبا و مصر و قادما السعودية وكل ما يعرف بدول "الربيع العربي ")

Muslim Brothers' Crimes in Egypt

More than 33 million Egyptians held the red card to Muslim Brothers' Mohamad Morsi asking him to leave his post and hand over Egypt's rule to an interim government. Egyptian Army, after several attempts to convince Morsi to change his policy and listen to the people, chose to stand by its people and to support them in their demands.

 The West insists on viewing what happened in Egypt from the lens of a military coup. In June 30th 2013, more than 33 million Egyptians filled the streets chanting, peacefully, " Morsi: leave". This unprecedented protest in the history of humanity, number and nature wise, was read by the Obama administration as a military coup! People of the US administration may be anything but naïve. They are well aware of the popular nature of the uprise in Egypt. They know that this beautiful, graceful, and surprising popular movement in Egypt represents a serious threat to the US-Zionist plans to handover the rule of the Arab countries to Islamists (who, by the way, are not related to real Islam). Ultimately, the US aims at dividing the Arab region based on sectarian basis as to justify the existence of the radical, racist, and unlawful State of Israel.

 Till today, and following the many steps taken by the Egyptian administration to ensure that Egypt's rule be in the hands of a civilian government, and most importantly, and despite the unprecedented violence in Egypt stirred and implemented by the MB, Obama insists on the "military coup" nomenclature! He even announced that he will stop military aid to Egypt in response to the official Egyptian measures leading to the arrest of MB leaders!

 Obama: in the name of humanity, stop claiming that you are the Nation that defends democracy on this earthly earth. You are the most ruthless, inhumane, atrocious, blood thirsty administration in this whole world!! Most of the American people are aware of this petty fact.

 Obama Supports Terrorism in Egypt [AMTV Live 7.3.13] 

Largest Human Peaceful Protesrs In Human History: 33 Million Egyptian Want Morsi "OUT"

'Obama Supports Terrorism' Egyptian Protests 'Anti Obama' As Well

Muslim Brothers' Crimes in Egypt: Pushing children from over roof tops

Muslim Brothers' Crimes in Egypt: Slaughtering civilians

The massacre of the Muslim Brotherhood in a police station Kerdasa1

The massacre of the Muslim Brotherhood in a police station Kerdasa2

Muslim Brothers's Crimes: MB spearheading a religious war in the Middle East in order to "cleanse" it from what they call "atheists"

Muslim Brothers: No where close to peaceful

(more to come)

 

 

What We Know About the Obscure Film That Sparked The Deadly Riots in Libya

By Abby Ohlhseir, Slate - Posted Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, at 11:28 AM ET

The violence that claimed the life of Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three of his American staff members yesterday appears to have been sparked by an obscure, anti-Islam film produced by Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American real-estate developer who says his goal was to draw attention to the hypocrisies of Islam.

So, what do we know about Bacile? In short, not much.

A man claiming to be Bacile spoke to a number of international news outlets by phone after going into hiding in the wake of the attacks. As Religion Dispatch's Sarah Posner points out, the man appears to have given a number of conflicting details about himself—including describing himself as 52 years old to the Wall Street Journal and as 56 to the Associated Press—so at the very least there are some doubts about the veracity of the man's claims. [Update at 2:30 p.m.: And increasing questions about whether Bacile is even a real person.]

Not a whole lot more is known about his film, Innocence of Muslims, which appears to have been screened only once, to a near empty theater in Hollywood earlier this year. Judging by the 13-minute trailer posted to YouTube in July, the film is supposed to be a "satirical" portrayal of the life of Muhammad. In addition to its criminally low production values, the film also takes care to portray Muhammad as a pedophile-appeasing, bumbling spreader of false doctrine. The offensive Muhammad narrative is interspersed with scenes of bearded men in generic Middle Eastern streets raiding missionary hospitals and threatening and killing young Christian women.

According to the New York Times, yesterday's violence in Egypt and Libya was prompted by reports in Egyptian media about the film after it was dubbed into Egyptian Arabic last week and posted to YouTube.

What we know the most about, however, is the main promoter of the film, Terry Jones, who is an old hand at garnering media attention. He's been using the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks for years as an opportunity to draw attention to his anti-Islam activism.

Jones is best known for threatening to burn a Quran on September 11, 2010. His church in Gainesville, Fla., eventually did burn one in the spring of 2011, sparking deadly riots across Afghanistan. Lately, despite a beyond long-shot run for president, Jones had been laying relatively low, focusing some of his efforts on "free-speech" issues in Dearborn, Michigan, where his appearances have drawn mob scenes. Last year, Jones was in New York for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, hanging out at a rally led by activists Pamela Gellar and Robert Spencer. This year, he was back in Gainesville on September 11 for "International Judge Muhammad Day," which his site standupamericanow.com livestreamed.

Jones and his cohort have usually dealt with deaths related to their activism by deflecting any potential blame to Islam, which seems to be the case in a statement released by Jones' organization soon after the most recent attacks:"The fact that angry protesters climbed the wall at the US embassy in Cairo, today, ripped down the American flag and tore it apart further indicates the lack of respect that Islam has for any other religion, any other flag, any freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of religion. It further illustrates that they have no tolerance for anything outside of Mohammad. 

They raised up a black flag stating “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his Messenger.” Islam is a religion that is totally incompatible with Western free society. It is a religion that cannot be criticized because of their extreme fear and knowing that if the religion of Islam is criticized and examined it will be revealed for what it is, a total deception."

Link to the movie's trailer:
http://m.youtube.com/?reload=9&rdm=ma79fyma#/watch?v=iC6yGzpSvjU