Freed nuns reach Damascus as prisoner exchange continues

By ALBERT AJI and DIAA HADID ASSOCIATED PRESS

11 years ago

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a group of nuns, who were freed after being held by Syrian rebels, greet church officials at the Syrian border town of Jdeidat Yabous, early Monday, March. 10, 2013. Rebels in Syria freed more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns on Monday, ending their four-month captivity in exchange for Syrian authorities releasing dozens of female prisoners. The release of the nuns and their helpers, 16 women in all, is a rare successful prisoner-exchange deal between Syrian government authorities and the rebels seeking to overthrow the rule of President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a group of nuns, who were freed after being held by Syrian rebels, greet church officials at the Syrian border town of Jdeidat Yabous, early Monday, March. 10, 2014. Rebels in Syria freed more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns on Monday, ending their four-month captivity in exchange for Syrian authorities releasing dozens of female prisoners. The release of the nuns and their helpers, 16 women in all, is a rare successful prisoner-exchange deal between Syrian government authorities and the rebels seeking to overthrow the rule of President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a nun who was freed after being held by Syrian rebels, is greeted by a church official at the Syrian border town of Jdeidat Yabous, early Monday, March. 10, 2014. Rebels in Syria freed more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns on Monday, ending their four-month captivity in exchange for Syrian authorities releasing dozens of female prisoners. The release of the nuns and their helpers, 16 women in all, is a rare successful prisoner-exchange deal between Syrian government authorities and the rebels seeking to overthrow the rule of President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/SANA)

An official Lebanese security convoy carring a group of released nuns arrives at the Lebanese border crossing point of Masnaa, eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon, early Monday March 10, 2014. Syrian rebels released about a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns who have been held since December, Lebanon’s official news agency reported Monday. The release of the nuns and their helpers, 16 women in all, is a rare successful prisoner-exchange deal between Syrian government authorities and the rebels seeking to overthrow the rule of President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

DAMASCUS, Syria — Greek Orthodox nuns freed after being held hostage by al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebels arrived in Damascus Monday morning, ending their three-month ordeal in a rare prisoner exchange with the government.

The 13 women said they were treated well by rebels and appeared so in a video of their release issued by the al-Qaida group. It showed a masked gunman carrying one elderly nun who was too weak to walk to a waiting vehicle. Activists and a Lebanese official said the release came in exchange for 150 female prisoners held by the government.

Residents gave the nuns a warm welcome at the Church of the Cross in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Qassaa, state news agency SANA reported.

They were released early Monday in a rare deal between the Syrian government and rebels of the so-called Nusra Front that was mediated by the Gulf country of Qatar, traditionally a rebel supporter.

The video appeared genuine and consistent with The Associated Press’ reporting. The dialogue it showed between the nuns and the armed, masked Sunni militants was surprising for the familiarity with which they addressed each other.

“What we did was less than what we should have done,” an off camera rebel voice said to a nun, likely referring to the length of their captivity. He said that God will reward the nuns for their suffering.

“May God reward every person who sought to resolve this problem,” said the nun.

As the women reach the car, the unseen rebel says, “I was so happy to be in communication with you and I hope that we can stay in communication, if God decides that. Please say hello to your families for me, and I hope you arrive safely.”

Lebanese General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said the Syrian government had met a demand of the rebels by releasing more than 150 Syrian women held in prisons.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Observatory for the Human Rights also said the government freed 150 women prisoners and three children of a prisoner in exchange for the nuns.

In Damascus, the nuns prayed before heading to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Old Damascus, where they will now stay, SANA said.

Patriarchal assistant, Bishop Luca al-Khoury, who led an official church reception to greet the nuns, accused the rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad of targeting Syria’s patchwork of religious minorities. Al-Khoury is a frequent defender of Assad’s rule.

“Syria, which does not differentiate between Muslims and Christians, is targeted … by the armed terrorist groups who don’t understand anything but the language of killing and destruction.”

Although the nuns appear to be treated well, their seizure confirmed the fears of many Syrian Christians that they were being targeted by extremists among the rebels in the increasingly sectarian three-year conflict.

The country’s chaotic mix of rebel groups is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, while minorities include Christians, Shiite Muslims and Alawites — whose sect is a Shiite offshoot. Most have sided with Assad or remained neutral, fearing for their fate should rebels take power. Assad is an Alawite.

Two bishops were seized in rebel-held areas in April, and an Italian Jesuit priest, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, went missing in July after traveling to meet militants in Raqqa. None have been heard from since.

The energy-rich Gulf nation of Qatar had been involved in the mediation that freed the nuns since December, Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah said in a statement carried by his country’s official news agency.

Also Monday, the international rights group Amnesty International accused the Syrian government of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by blockading and starving civilians in the southern Damascus neighborhood of Yarmouk.

Amnesty said it estimated 128 people starved to death in Palestinian-dominated Yarmouk since a yearlong blockade on the area was tightened in July by forces loyal to Assad, who sought to flush out rebels and to punish civilians for harboring them.

Efforts to reach a truce in Yarmouk allowing food deliveries to starving residents have repeatedly collapsed.

Here’s a list of some other prominent people, including journalists and activists still missing in Syria and believed in the captivity of rebels. Many are thought to have taken by radical factions, in particular the al-Qaida breakaway group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

ACTIVISTS

Syria’s leading human rights lawyer, Razan Zaytouni, was abducted along with her husband and two other prominent activists from a rebel-held Damascus suburb Dec. 10. Zaytouni is an icon of Syria’s secular revolutionaries. Nobody claimed responsibility for her abduction, but it came after she wrote an article denouncing the Islamic State.

Abdullah Khalil, also a human rights lawyer, has been missing since last May. Khalil became the head of the local council in Raqqa. Khalil was last seen on May 18, when was taken away by unidentified armed men as he was leaving his office.

According to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, some 60 Syrian opposition activists have been abducted since last spring in from northern areas controlled by Islamic State. Most have been released but as of December, 22 were still being held.

JOURNALISTS

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates about 30 international and local reporters are currently in captivity. Most of the kidnappings over the past six months have occurred in opposition-held parts of northern and eastern Syria. They include among others two Spanish journalists, El Mundo reporter Javier Espinosa and freelance photo journalist Ricardo Garcia Vilanova; French journalists Edouard Elias, Didier Francois, Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres; and a Lebanese, a Mauritanian and a Jordanian national of Palestinian origin.

The spike in abductions of journalists while on assignment in the opposition-held areas in northern Syria prompted major news organizations, including , to call for urgent action. It called on rebel leaders to assist in identifying groups currently holding journalists and take the steps necessary to bring about their release.

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Hadid reported from Beirut. Adam Schreck contributed reporting from Dubai.