A Christian town in Syria keeps the biblical language of Aramaic alive. But it fears for its future

A Christian town in Syria keeps the biblical language of Aramaic alive. But it fears for its future
A priest holds Sunday Mass at the Greek Orthodox Convent of Saint Thecla in the town of Maaloula, Syria, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 28 February 2025
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A Christian town in Syria keeps the biblical language of Aramaic alive. But it fears for its future

A Christian town in Syria keeps the biblical language of Aramaic alive. But it fears for its future
  • Town’s residents have asked the country’s new leaders for protection after incidents of looting and harassment.
  • The scars of an extremist-linked attack over a decade ago remain

MAALOULA: Church bells echoed across the rocky slopes of this ancient Syrian town on a cold Sunday morning. But few families remained.
Maaloula is one of the world’s few places where residents still speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus is believed to have used. The town is also home to Syria’s two oldest active monasteries. But since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in an insurgent offensive late last year, some residents fear their future is precarious.
After a few dozen people attended Divine Liturgy at the Church of Saint George, some residents sat in its courtyard and spoke of looting and harassment that they believe were targeted at their religious minority.
Father Jalal Ghazal said he woke one morning in January to a loud sound and ran outside to find streams of red liquid. He immediately feared the kind of targeted killing that occurred during the country’s 13-year civil war.
Instead, he discovered that some people had broken into apartments where clergy lived, vandalized them and threw bags of wine bottles from a balcony.
Many Christians in Syria felt they were collectively accused during the long conflict of siding with Assad, who came from the small Alawite sect and portrayed himself as the protector of minorities.
Residents of Christian-majority Maaloula, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Damascus, sent a letter last month to Syria’s new Islamist government under former insurgent leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who has promised to protect religious and ethnic minorities.
“We want the guaranteed safe return of the Christians of Maaloula,” it read. “Maaloula is a red line. We will not let anyone encroach on its culture, heritage and sanctities.”
Nothing has changed since then, and the clergy of Maaloula hope for a chance to speak with authorities.
Maaloula still bears the scars of war. What it went through over a decade ago made global headlines and cast a light on Syria’s minorities at a time when anti-government rebels largely became more extremist.
In September 2013, rebels including Al-Qaeda-linked extremists took over the town. About two-thirds of Maaloula’s estimated 3,300 residents fled while fighters abducted 12 nuns.
The nuns were later freed for ransom, and Assad’s forces took back the town, banishing some Muslim residents who were accused of supporting armed opposition groups.
But since Assad’s fall, Maaloula’s Christians said some of those people have returned and carried out acts of vengeance including looting and vandalism. No one has been arrested.
Christians say they have lived in peace with local Muslims and that the perpetrators are unfairly targeting them for what Assad did.
“There are no guarantees,” the priest, Ghazal, said. “What we have to do is to try to reduce these incidents from happening.”
No police officers have been seen in the town recently. All the weapons and munitions in Maaloula’s police station were looted in the celebratory chaos following Assad’s fall.
Sameera Thabet was among many residents who fled that night to Damascus. “We were living in fear, wondering if we were going to get slaughtered again,” she said. “But the next day, we came back after we heard that our houses were being looted.”
Already, the war had left bullet holes in religious symbols and artifacts. Paintings and mosaics of Jesus and other Christian figures had been damaged and defaced.
Now residents and clergymen hope that Syria’s new leaders will protect them and their efforts to pass down Christian tradition and the Aramaic language. Many people who had fled the town have not returned.
Maaloula’s church officials have asked Al-Sharaa’s government for more security. In late December, some security forces came from the capital during the Christmas holiday to protect the Christians who decorated homes and lit a tree in the town square.
“They didn’t stay long. They came for two or three days then left,” a dejected-looking Ghazal said. “But our voices were heard.”
On a summit overlooking the town, Father Fadi Bargeel of the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus lit a candle before examining the long-damaged ruins.
The church overlooks the abandoned remains of a luxury hotel that became a de facto military base for armed rebels.
Bargeel said he’s trying to look to the future. He wants to encourage more people, especially children, to learn Aramaic or become more fluent.
“The moment a child is a born, the Aramaic language would be spoken at home.” he said. “When we started going to school as children, we didn’t know Arabic.” Now the language is mainly taught at home and is spoken more widely by older generations.
Though the town is largely empty, remaining residents try to carry on.
The Christmas tree still stood in the square. A few children fed stray dogs and cats loitering by a bakery.
Thabet said she trusts in God that their fate will be better. Unlike some residents, she has faith that Syria’s new leaders will make the country a civil state that’s inclusive of her and other Christians.
“God who put us on this land will protect us,” she said.


Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US

Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US
Updated 7 sec ago
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Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US

Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US
CAIRO: Six strikes targeted Yemen’s Hodeidah port, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported on Monday, blaming the strikes on Israel and the United States, a day after the Iran-aligned group launched a missile that struck near Israel’s main airport.

Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’

Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’
Updated 05 May 2025
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Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’

Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’
  • For many of the Gaza Strip's residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains the spectre of famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade
  • Israel’s new military roadmap changes little as it already controls most of Gaza, a resident says

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israel’s plan for the “conquest” of Gaza has sparked renewed fears, but for many of the Palestinian territory’s residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains the spectre of famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade.
The plan to expand military operations, approved by Israel’s security cabinet overnight, includes holding territories in the besieged Gaza Strip and moving the population south “for their protection,” an Israeli official said.
But Gaza residents told AFP that they did not expect the new offensive would make any significant changes to the already dire humanitarian situation in the small coastal territory.
“Israel has not stopped the war, the killing, the bombing, the destruction, the siege, and the starvation — every day — so how can they talk about expanding military operations?” Awni Awad, 39, told AFP.

Awad, who lives in a tent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis after being displaced by Israeli evacuation orders, said that his situation was already “catastrophic and tragic.”
“I call on the world to witness the famine that grows and spreads every day,” he said.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in late April said it had depleted all its foods stocks in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade on all supplies since March 2.

There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing

Umm Hashem Al-Saqqa, Gaza City resident

Aya Al-Skafy, a resident of Gaza City, told AFP her baby died because of malnutrition and medicine shortages last week.
“She was four months old and weighed 2.8 kilograms (6.2 pounds), which is very little. Medicine was not available,” she said.
“Due to severe malnutrition, she suffered from blood acidity, liver and kidney failure, and many other complications. Her hair and nails also fell out due to malnutrition.”
Umm Hashem Al-Saqqa, another Gaza City resident, fears her five-year-old son might face a similar fate, but is powerless to do anything about it.
“Hashem suffers from iron deficiency anaemia. He is constantly pale and lacks balance, and is unable to walk due to malnutrition,” she told AFP.
“There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing.”
New military roadmap
Gaza City resident Mohammed Al-Shawa, 65, said that Israel’s new military roadmap changes little as it already controls most of Gaza.
“The Israeli announcement about expanding military operations in Gaza is just talk for the media, because the entire Gaza Strip is occupied, and there is no safe area in Gaza,” he said.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 69 percent of Gaza has now been either incorporated into one of Israel’s buffer zones, or is subject to evacuation orders.

The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment

Mohammed Al-Shawa, Gaza City resident

That number rises to 100 percent in the southern governorate of Rafah, where over 230,000 people lived before the war but which has now been entirely declared a no-go zone.
“There is no food, no medicine, and the announcement of an aid distribution plan is just to distract the world and mislead global public opinion,” Shawa said, referring to reports of a new Israeli plan for humanitarian aid delivery that has yet to be implemented.
“The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment,” he said.
Israel says that its renewed bombardments and the blockade of Gaza are aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages held in the territory.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the new plan for Gaza on Monday and evoked a proposal previously floated by US President Donald Trump to displace the territory’s residents elsewhere.
The far-right firebrand said he would push for the plan’s completion, until “Hamas is defeated, Gaza is fully occupied, and Trump’s historical plan is implemented, with Gaza refugees resettled in other countries.”


Norwegian NGO decries Israel plan to take over Gaza aid

Palestinians queue for a portion of hot food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip
Palestinians queue for a portion of hot food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip
Updated 05 May 2025
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Norwegian NGO decries Israel plan to take over Gaza aid

Palestinians queue for a portion of hot food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip
  • Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to “militarise, manipulate, politicize the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south”

OSLO: An Israeli plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza at hubs controlled by the military is “fundamentally against humanitarian principles,” the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) told AFP on Monday.
Israel’s security cabinet said there was “currently enough food” in the territory which has been under full Israeli blockade since March 2, and approved overnight the “possibility of humanitarian distribution” in Gaza.
“We cannot and will not do something which is fundamentally against humanitarian principles,” Jan Egeland told AFP.
He said “the United Nations agencies, all other international humanitarian groups and NGOs have said no to be part of this idea coming from the Israeli cabinet and from the Israeli military.”
Israel has accused Hamas of diverting humanitarian aid — which Hamas denies — and said its blockade was necessary to pressure the militant group to release Israeli hostages.
Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to “militarise, manipulate, politicize the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south, a scheme where people will be screened, where it’s a completely inoperable system.”
“That would force people to move to get aid, and it would continue the starvation of the civilian population,” he said, adding: “We will have no part in that.”
“If one side in a bitter armed conflict tries to control, manipulate, ration aid among the civilians on the other side, it is against everything we stand for,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the Israeli scheme “will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies.”
International aid organizations as well as Palestinians in Gaza have for weeks warned of a dire humanitarian situation on the ground.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has said it has depleted its food stocks and that the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.


Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect

Iraqi Justice Minister Khaled Shwani speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 3.
Iraqi Justice Minister Khaled Shwani speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 3.
Updated 05 May 2025
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Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect

Iraqi Justice Minister Khaled Shwani speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 3.
  • Justice Minister Khaled Shwani acknowledged the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards

BAGHDAD: As a general amnesty law takes effect in Iraq, the country’s prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding, housing more than double their intended capacity, the country’s justice minister said in an interview.
Justice Minister Khaled Shwani told The Associated Press on Saturday that Iraq’s 31 prisons currently hold approximately 65,000 inmates, despite the system being built to accommodate only half that number.
He acknowledged that the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards.
“When we took office, overcrowding stood at 300 percent,” he said. “After two years of reform, we’ve reduced it to 200 percent. Our goal is to bring that down to 100 percent by next year in line with international standards.”
Thousands more detainees remain in the custody of security agencies but have not yet been transferred to the Ministry of Justice due to lack of prison capacity. Four new prisons are under construction, Shwani said, while three have been closed in recent years. Two others have been opened and six existing prisons expanded.
The general amnesty law passed in January had strong support from Sunni lawmakers who argue that their community has been disproportionately targeted by terrorism charges, with confessions sometimes extracted under torture.
But opponents say the law would allow the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog group, said in a statement that “the current version of the general amnesty law raises deep concerns over its potential legal and security consequences.”’
Shwani said 2,118 prisoners have been released from the justice ministry’s prisons since the amnesty law took effect, while others had been released from the custody of security agencies before being transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
“We have a committee studying the status of inmates and identifying those who may qualify for release, but the vision is not yet final,” he said. The minister said he expects a “good number” to be released but “cannot specify an exact percentage until we receive clarity from the judiciary on who qualifies for the amnesty.”
Iraq’s prisons house hundreds of foreign nationals, most of them convicted of terrorism-related charges or affiliation with the Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The inmates hail from countries including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Egypt, North African nations, and several European states, as well as a handful of US citizens. Shwani said discussions are underway with several governments to repatriate their citizens, excluding those sentenced to death.
He said inmates have been repatriated under existing agreements with Iran, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom, including 127 Iranian inmates who were recently transferred back to Tehran.
An Iranian who was convicted in the 2022 killing of a US citizen in Baghdad remains in custody, however, Shwani said.
Stephen Edward Troell, 45, a native of Tennessee, was fatally shot in his car in November by assailants as he pulled up to the street where he lived in Baghdad’s central Karrada district with his family. Iranian citizen Mohammed Ali Ridha was convicted in the killing, along with four Iraqis, in what was described as a kidnapping gone wrong.
All executions have been halted following the issuance of the general amnesty law, Shwani said.
Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty and particularly over mass executions carried out without prior notice to lawyers or family members of the prisoners.
Shwani pushed back against the criticisms of prison conditions and of the executions.
“There are strict measures in place for any violations committed against inmates,” he said. “Many employees have been referred for investigation, dismissed, and prosecuted.”
He insisted that the “number of executions carried out is limited — not as high as reported in the media” and said the death penalty is only applied in “crimes that severely threaten national security and public safety,” including inmates convicted in a 2016 bombing attack in Baghdad’s Karrada district that killed hundreds of people, as well as cases of child rape and high-ranking Daesh leaders.
Executions have been paused to reassess cases under the new amnesty law, he said.


Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities

Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities
Updated 05 May 2025
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Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities

Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities
  • Israeli authorities demolish 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village
  • In Ramallah, forces raze a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people

LONDON: Israeli authorities demolished several Palestinian structures, including homes, in occupied West Bank cities on Monday.

Israeli forces demolished two homes in Al-Mughayyir village, north of Ramallah. They also destroyed a 200 sq. meter home in Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya, for building without a permit. Additionally, several structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley.

Wafa reported that Israeli authorities demolished 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village, including homes, water wells, naturally formed caves, agricultural rooms, barns, and solar panels, after forcibly evicting residents.

In Ramallah, forces demolished a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people, while a demolition notice was issued for another house.

In the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli forces destroyed homes and livestock pens belonging to residents in Khirbet Al-Deir, while in Nabi Elias village, it raided several vehicle repair garages, the Wafa news agency reported.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, associated with the Palestinian Authority, reported that Israeli forces or settlers carried out 1,693 attacks on Palestinian towns, their properties, and lands in April.