Syria: Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels Target Christians Thursday 05 September 2013 Residents of a Christian village in western Syria have taken shelter in a convent as it was bombarded by al Qaeda-linked rebels. The rebel fighters stormed a hotel atop a mountain overlooking Maaloula to carry out the attack, said a nun, speaking on condition of anonymity from a convent in the village. "It's a war. It has been going from 6am in the morning," she said. Some 80 people took refuge in the convent, which houses 13 nuns and 27 orphans. <B>It said the assault began with rebels seizing a government checkpoint after an al Nusra fighter blew himself up at the entrance. They disabled two tanks and an armoured personnel carrier and killed eight regime soldiers in fighting, it said. The Syrian military responded by sending warplanes to bomb the area, local sources told Sky News.</B> Situated some 40 miles northeast of Damascus, the mountain village is home to around 2,000 residents, some of whom still speak a version of Aramaic, the ancient language of biblical times believed to have been spoken by Jesus. http://news.sky.com/story/1137492/syria-al-qaeda-linked-rebels-target-christians The kind of people Obama and Kerry wants to help. And Assad is the one defending the Christians?