AMMAN, Jordan
(AP) -- Rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters gained control of a
Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists
said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account
of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning.
It
was impossible to independently verify the reports from Maaloula, a
scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the
world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of
Aramaic. The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage
sites.
The rebel advance into the area this
week was spearheaded by the Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front,
exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious minorities about the role
played by Islamic extremists within the rebel ranks.
It
was not immediately clear why the army couldn't sufficiently reinforce
its troops to prevent the rebel advance in the area only 43 kilometers
(26 miles) from Damascus. Some activists say that Assad's forces are
stretched thin, fighting in other areas in the north and south of the
country.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Nusra Front backed by
another group, the Qalamon Liberation Front, moved into the village
after heavy clashes with the army late Saturday.
"The
army pulled back to the outskirts of the village and both (rebel
groups) are in total control of Maaloula now," he told The Associated
Press in a telephone interview.
He said pro-government fighters remain inside the village, in hiding.
Initially,
troops loyal to President Bashar Assad moved into Maaloula early
Saturday, he said, "but they left when rebels started pouring into the
village." Now, Abdurrahman said, the army is surrounding the village and
controlling its entrances and exits.
A
Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and
shouting Allahu Akbar, or God is great, attacked Christian homes and
churches shortly after moving into the village overnight.
"They
shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies
lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village,"
said the resident, reached by telephone from neighboring Jordan. "So
many people fled the village for safety."
Now,
Maaloula "is a ghost town. Where is President Obama to see what
befallen on us?" asked the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for
fear of reprisal by the rebels.
Syria's state
SANA news agency said the army reported "progress" in its offensive
against the rebels in Maaloula. "The army inflicted heavy losses in the
ranks of the terrorists," it said, using a government term to describe
the rebels.
"Military operations are continuing in the vicinity of Maaloula and its entrances," SANA said.
State-run TV reported that all churches in Maaloula were now safe and the army was chasing gunmen in the western hills.
The
development came as President Barack Obama's administration pressed
ahead with efforts to win congressional backing and international
support for military strikes against Syria over an alleged chemical
attack in August outside Damascus.
The U.S.
says Assad's forces fired rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin on
rebel-held areas near the capital before dawn on Aug. 21, killing at
least 1,429 people. Other estimates put the death toll from the attack
at more than 500.
Back in Washington after a
trip to Europe that included a two-day visit to Russia to attend a Group
of 20 summit, Obama will intensify his efforts to sell a skeptical
Congress and a war-weary American public on a military strike against
Syria.
A passionate debate is already underway
in Congress and the administration's lobbying campaign culminates
Tuesday, as Obama gives an Oval Office speech the evening before a
critical vote on the possible Syria action is expected in the Senate.
French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius questioned in a television interview
Sunday Assad's willingness for a political solution to the Syrian
crisis.
"No one is for war," Fabius told
France 3 TV. "The question we ask is if we want to get to a political
resolution, will Bashar Assad accept if nothing is done? My opinion is
no. There has to be a firm response to push toward a political
negotiation."
Fabius said that a military
intervention didn't require every country to be behind it. He said: "We
must be vigilant against barbarity."
---
Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment