| CNN | - |
(CNN)
-- An al Qaeda-linked rebel group has wrested control of the historic
Christian town of Maaloula from regime forces, opposition groups said
Sunday.
Syria Islamist rebels take control of historic Christian town of Maaloula
updated 6:54 AM EDT, Sun September 8, 2013
Christians under attack in Syria
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- What the capture will mean for Christians waits to be seen
- Some Christians fear radical Islamists have been swelling rebel ranks
- Aid agencies: Christians often targeted for sympathies to al-Assad's regime
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the hardline Islamist rebels of the al-Nusra Front seized control Saturday night.
Videos posted on YouTube
in recent days showed fighting between rebels and government forces in
the tiny sleepy town, an hour's drive from the capital Damascus.
"We cleansed Maaloula
from all the Assad dogs and all his thugs," a rebel commander shouts at
the camera in a video posted online over the weekend.
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What the capture will mean for the Christian residents waits to be seen.
As the 18-month-long Syrian conflict festers, the government and the opposition welcome and need Christian support.
But some Christians fear radical Islamists have been swelling rebel ranks.
They also fear the same
fate as a number of Christians during the war in Iraq, where militants
targeted them and spurred many to leave the country.
Christians make up
roughly 10% of the population. Syria is ruled by a government dominated
by Alawites, whose faith is an offshoot of Shiism. The regime is opposed
by an opposition with a large Sunni presence.
Aid agencies say Syria's
2 million Christians are often targeted for suspected sympathies to
President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Two top bishops have been kidnapped;
a well-known priest is missing.
Antoinette Nassrallah,
the Christian owner of a cafe in Maaloula, told CNN last year she had
seen government TV images depicting radical Muslim attacks on
Christians. She said she has heard about such violence in Aleppo.
"For now in our area
here it's fine," she said last year. "But what I heard, in Aleppo, they
are killing, destroying many of churches -- very, very old churches."
Many of Syria's Christians have fled to Lebanon where they shelter in monasteries.
On Saturday, they joined in prayers for peace promoted by Pope Francis in Rome.
Last year, the U.S.
Treasury imposed sanctions on leaders of al-Nusra while the State
Department blacklisted it as a foreign terror organization linked to al
Qaeda in Iraq.
Al-Nusra Front has
emerged as one of the most effective groups in the Syrian resistance,
drawing on foreign fighters with combat experience in Iraq and
elsewhere.
But Washington accuses the group of using the Syrian conflict to advance its own ideology and ends.
Elsewhere in Syria,
Russia sent a plane to pick up its citizens from the war-torn Middle
East nation, state media reported Sunday.
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