Maaloula, Christian Minority Town Under Rebel Attack

Local Editor

Maaloula is an ancient town in a hollow encircled by mountain cliffs descending from their heights to offer shelter to the homes built directly against their sides... exploring its many secrets is to be transported back in time. Ancient monasteries, old churches, rock faces with cave dwellings and tombs-the place is brimming with rich historical treasures.

It is also unique for being among the minority of Syrian towns where Christians comprise a majority, though this status has by now eroded to the point where Christians are only a slight majority. Still, the town represents the survival of the Christian community stretching back to the early days of Christianity.
But the cultural wealth preserved in the town precedes Christianity; Maaloula is one of the last places on earth where the pre-Christian language that once dominated the Near East, Aramaic, is still spoken.

Aramaic remained the lingua franca of the Near East until its ascendant position was supplanted by Arabic when Islam spread east, west, and north from the Arabian Peninsula. Aramaic had been an important language for conducting trade from Egypt to the borders of India, until the arrival of a sacred text-the Qur'an-whose effect was strong enough to issue the challenge that its own language take the place of most important tongue.

This was Mathew Barber's description to Maaloula, and its historic background.
Barber then moved to recall the rebel attacks on Thursday, writing "the community in Maaloula had avoided the direct presence of the conflict, but that all changed in the early morning (Wed., Sept. 4, reportedly around 5:30 am) when a Jordanian suicide-bomber named Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi (yes, same name as the famous al-Qaida figure) detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint guarding the entrance to Maaloula, killing the soldiers there and allowing al-Qaida-linked rebels to roll into town in 20 pickup trucks with machine-guns mounted in the back."
According to Barber, the attack was quite effective in terrorizing the local inhabitants.

"When the rebels first came into the town, they reportedly told people: Don't be afraid; stay inside your homes."
Despite affirmation of goodwill toward civilians and the pledge to not harm churches, Barber added "I was told that the first mortar fired by rebels hit a church. Since then, others have conveyed to me that churches and monasteries have been damaged in yesterday and today's fighting."

He went on "While we're waiting for more details on the actual damage, my contacts claim to be certain that Maaloula's Aramaic Language Education Center (an institute that works for the preservation of the language) was broken into by rebels and looted.

Source: Center for Middle East Studies, edited by website team