The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Syrian Nuns Held By Rebels for Months Released

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JDEIDET YABOUS, Syria—Thirteen Syrian nuns and three other women held captive by al Qaeda-linked rebels for nearly three months have been released.

A pro-regime businessman living in Damascus said he was in negotiations with the Nusra Front rebel group up until a week ago and their main demand was the release of 138 detainees in regime prisons, including foreign fighters. However, Syrian officials wouldn’t discuss what, if anything, the rebels had received in return for the women.

The 16 women were transferred from Syria to Lebanon early Sunday evening as a first step to freedom. They had been expected to return to Syria immediately and a crowd waited most of the day to welcome them on the Syrian side of the border crossing.

However, their release was delayed for hours by a snag when the rebels tried to renege on the deal, according to Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Security agency who helped facilitate the release.

Syrian media broadcast images live as the women arrived back in Syria at about 1 a.m. local time Monday. They were greeted by Lebanese and Syrian officials and Christian church leaders.

Mother Pelagia Sayaf, who heads the monastery where the nuns live, said all the women were in good health but were exhausted after a nearly nine-hour journey to freedom.

She thanked all those who contributed to their release and praised President Bashar al-Assad for approving the deal with Qatar that led to their release. But at the same time Mother Sayaf said they weren’t mistreated by their captors from the Nusra Front.

“I have to be truthful, the Front treated us well,” she said.

The ups and downs in the deal were a reminder of the complexity of the three-year-old conflict and the multiple players both domestic and foreign involved. Similar complications played out during the last major detainee exchanges such as the release in January 2013 of 48 Iranians captured by rebels on the outskirts of Damascus in return for more than 2,000 prisoners held by the regime.

The Syrian regime is eager to portray itself as the guardian of minorities in Syria, especially Christians, and is willing to make concessions to this end. This has created some tensions within President Assad’s minority Alawite sect, with some Alawites complaining the regime is unwilling to make similar concessions to free prisoners from their community.

The nuns were abducted along with other women in early December from their monastery in the ancient Christian town of Maaloula north of the Syrian capital Damascus. They were taken to the nearby rebel bastion of Yabroud, in Syria near the Lebanese border.

The area surrounding Yabroud has seen heavy clashes in recent weeks between rebels and pro-regime forces, including the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

Because of the fighting in the area, the nuns had to go through Lebanon to return home. The porous border between Arsal and Yabroud is under the control of rebels of all stripes, especially extremists tied to al Qaeda and their allies in Lebanon

Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross, a Christian nun who divides her time between Lebanon and Syria, said the women arrived Sunday in the pro rebel Lebanese town of Arsal at about 6 p.m. local time.

They were supposed to return to Syria through Jdeidet Yabous, the main official regime-controlled border crossing with Lebanon. The crossing is about 80 miles south of Arsal and 20 miles west of Damascus.

The head of Qatari intelligence was facilitating the release, according to a Lebanese security official. The wealthy Gulf state of Qatar is a major political and financial backer of Syrian rebel groups.

George Haswani, a Yabroud native and pro-regime businessman living in Damascus, said he was in negotiations with the Nusra Front up until a week ago. Their main demand was the release of 138 detainees in regime prisons, including foreign fighters from Iraq, Qatar and other countries. Mr. Haswani was among those waiting for the nuns at the border crossing.

Bishop Luke al Khoury from Syria’s Greek Orthodox church, who was also waiting at the border, said members of his church were in regular contact with the nuns by telephone and that rebels were asking for “unrealistic and impossible demands” but he didn’t offer specifics.

A Syrian activist in Arsal who said he met with a member of the kidnappers three weeks ago said that they want money for their release. He said he didn’t know how much they asked for.

Bishop Khoury, a staunch regime supporter, said the military operations in Yabroud forced the rebels to release the nuns.

“In my opinion, what the Syrian Arab army achieved in the Yabroud area and its surroundings is what made the completion of this deal very easy,” he said.

wsj