A group of nuns kidnapped by Islamist rebels in Syria were freed on Monday in a rare prisoner swap in a three-year war whose brutality was highlighted in a new Amnesty report. Jihadists seized the 13 nuns and three maids on December 3 from the Christian village of Maalula, north of Damascus, where residents still speak a version of the Aramaic language of Jesus Christ.
The women, who arrived in the early hours at the government-held town of Jdeidet Yabus near the border with Lebanon, were exhausted but praised those who negotiated their release. "We want to thank God, who made it possible for us to be here now," one of the Greek Orthodox nuns told reporters. She thanked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, a leading supporter of the opposition, as well as Lebanon's General Security agency director Abbas Ibrahim, who mediated the exchange. Ibrahim told Lebanon's New TV that no ransom was paid, and the deal involved the release of "more than 150 female prisoners". The nun, seated and dressed in her black religious habit, 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. "No one bothered us," she added, denying rumours the kidnappers had forced the Syrian and Lebanese nuns to remove their crosses.
They reached Jdeidet Yabus after an arduous nine-hour journey from the rebel-held town of Yabrud into Lebanon and then back into Syria via the official crossing. The prisoner exchange came as pro-government forces put the rebels under mounting pressure in Yabrud, their last stronghold in the Qalamun mountains between Damascus and the Lebanese border. Video posted online by activists showed the women being escorted to a transfer point by opposition fighters.
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