Maaloula nuns freed in Syria prisoner swap

La dépêche AFP reprise par le Akhbar («Islamist fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front»): Maaloula nuns freed in Syria prisoner swap
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/maaloula-nuns-freed-syria-prisoner-swap

A group of nuns kidnapped in a Syrian village were freed Monday, part of a rare prisoner swap in a three-year war.

Jihadists seized the 13 nuns and three maids on December 3 from the famed Christian village of Maaloula and took them to the nearby town of Yabrud.

The women, who arrived after midnight at the government-held town of Jdeidet Yabus near the border with Lebanon, were exhausted but full of praise for those who negotiated their release.

“We want to thank God, who made it possible for us to be here now. We thank (Syria’s) President Bashar al-Assad for being in contact with the emir of Qatar” Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, one of the nuns told reporters.

“We will not forget the honest mediator, Abbas Ibrahim,” she added, in reference to Lebanon’s General Security agency director.

Seated as she spoke, and dressed in her black religious habit, the nun said all 16 hostages were treated “well” in captivity.

The kidnappers, Islamist fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, “were giving us everything we asked for,” she said.

Maintenant, il faut retrouver les différentes déclarations de l’époque et la version selon laquelle elles avaient simplement été « protégées » par les braves gens qui avaient « libéré » la ville.

3 décembre: Islamist rebels abduct 12 nuns from Syrian town
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/islamist-rebels-abduct-12-nuns-syrian-town

But pro-rebel sources cited by Reuters said the nuns were safe and that the real threat to them came from what they described as random Syrian army bombardment of Maaloula.

6 décembre: Video: Abducted Syrian nuns “thank” captors for "protection"
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/video-abducted-syrian-nuns-thank-captors-protection

“We emerged from heavy shelling, and good people brought us here, they befriended us, they housed us, and we’re very thankful to them,” a second nun told the rebel filmmaker.

The man then chose a nun at random and asked her if she would agree that they had been “kidnapped” or “detained.” She replied that they had not been detained, but “taken to a safe place.”

A fourth nun told the cameraman that they are “very, very happy” with “the brothers who performed a good operation and took us from the convent (in Maaloula) from under the shelling.”

“They protected us,” she added.

8 décembre, @gonzo :

For the record (lundi) : pour Syria Truth, la Coalition reconnaît être à l’origine de l’envoi des combattants (en l’occurrence Jabhat al-Nosra). Infos de plus en plus persistantes sur des morts, menaces, rançons...
▻http://www.syriatruth.org/الأخبار/أخباروتقاريرأخرى/tabid/94/Article/10507/Default.aspx

La libération des religieuses, un happy end qui arrange tout le monde
▻http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/858413/la-liberation-des-religieuses-un-happy-end-qui-arrange-tout-le-monde.