A huge statue of the Virgin Mary towers over churches, monasteries and mosques in the Syrian city of Maaloula, where a dialect of the Aramaic language of Jesus is still spoken.
The town has managed to stay out of the Syrian conflict between Sunni Muslim rebels and the regime of dictator Bashar Assad, as have most of Syria's 2 million Christians.
However, worsening violence has forced the community into a corner: Continuous clashes between the rebels and the regime in this isolated town of 2,000 people, as well as other Christian towns over the past two weeks, have many Christians worried that they will no longer be allowed to stay neutral.
"The Christians now live in a terror," said Hussam, a Christian from the nearby town of Saidnaya, who asked not to be identified because he feared for the safety of his family if he was to talk openly. "But they want to stay in Syria no matter what."
"Many of us came from the next town and about 30 others came from the Bab Touma and Qassa," said Sari, a 24-year-old civilian who asked not to be identified out of fear of being targeted by the rebels. "We heard that Jabhat al-Nusra (was) kidnapping girls and destroying churches in Maaloula, so we went there for three days to fight al-Nusra."
Mother Bilajea Saeaf, director of Maaloula's St. Teqla Convent, told Lebanese LBC TV that the facility has been untouched. "No one came near us, and no one shot at the churches or the locals, nor did they assault the nuns," Saeaf said.
Muslim militias say the idea that the regime is protecting Christians is "foolish," said Joshua Landis, director of the Center of Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University. "They say, if the regime had only given up, then this level of violence would have never taken place," Landis said. "What's happening in Maaloula has happened in one town after the next across Syria. Rebels take a town, the regime responds with overwhelming power and force, lobbing shells, very indiscriminately killing people," he added.
"It doesn't take much," Landis said. "Christians were driven out of Anatolia before the first world war. They've been driven out of Iraq. They've been driven out of Palestine/Israel. The Copts have been getting the bad end of the stick in Egypt. The Syrian regime has been taken advantage of Christians feeling their days are numbered."
"We are against the formation of an Islamic state. We want a Syrian secular state for all Syrians," he said.
More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/21/syria-christians/2843139/
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