The negotiations are underway to swap the 14 Maaloula nuns by rebel detainees in Assad’s prisons, well-informed source said to Zaman Alwasl, assuring that the number of nuns is 14 not 12, in addition to their servant.
Bashar al-Assad’s big ally, tycoon George al-Hiswani is mediating to exchange nuns for detainees in Syrian prisons after 33 days of abduction, the source said. (Hiswani also is married to Vladimir Putin's wife sister).
The 14 nuns were kidnapped on Dec. 2 by an Islamist
group from their monastery in Maaloula, northeast of Damascus and had been
moved to the rebel-held town of Yabroud, 20 km away.
Assad regime went through many swap deals recently to
release Iranian and Lebanese militants.
A Free Syrian Army source assured that nuns’ health is
good, even the are safer than being in Maaloula escaping the fierce shelling by
Assad’s army, he added.
No further details revealed yet like when or where the
deal will be reached.
Al-Hiswani who was born in Yabroud has full powers to negotiate by al-Assad, who looks to shimmer his regime abroad, analyst says to Zaman Alwasl.
Amer al-Qalamouni, spokesman for the General Committee
for the Syrian Revolution, claimed that the nuns were being "hosted"
to protect them from the shelling by regime forces near the monastery. Of
course, not many believe this, according to Al Monitor.
According to the Syrian Patriarch of the Melkite Greek
Catholic church, Gregory Laham, some 450,000 Syrian Christians have been forced
from their homes by the civil war that began in March 2011. He added that “at
least 57 Christian sites” have been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of
hostilities, and blamed the United States and its Western allies for
aggravating the situation by providing assistance to the rebels.
Christians, who comprise about 10 percent of Syria's
population, are viewed as supporters of President Bashar Assad, fearing the
Islamist ideology of some rebels. This has made them the target of attacks.
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