By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Suez Cement invests millions of dollars in environmental sustainability efforts
    Suez Cement invests millions of dollars in environmental sustainability efforts
    June 6, 2023
    As Egypt decides to establish tourist chambers, federation, what is in it for tourism industry?
    As Egypt decides to establish tourist chambers, federation, what is in it for tourism industry?
    June 6, 2023
    FRA extends deadline for electing Egyptian federation for securities’ board for 3 months
    FRA extends deadline for electing Egyptian federation for securities’ board for 3 months
    June 6, 2023
    New MoU signed to develop SMEs in industrial zone in East Port Said
    New MoU signed to develop SMEs in industrial zone in East Port Said
    June 6, 2023
    CI Capital records revenues of EGP 1.6bn in 1Q 2023
    CI Capital records revenues of EGP 1.6bn in 1Q 2023
    June 6, 2023
  • Politics
    PoliticsShow More
    Arab League calls on Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities, oblige Israel to end occupation
    Arab League calls on Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities, oblige Israel to end occupation
    June 5, 2023
    Institute of Diplomatic Studies holds training course for diplomats from South Sudan
    Institute of Diplomatic Studies holds training course for diplomats from South Sudan
    June 5, 2023
    Al-Sisi participates in African meeting on mediation in Russian-Ukrainian crisis
    Al-Sisi participates in African meeting on mediation in Russian-Ukrainian crisis
    June 5, 2023
    Washington, Riyadh call for new ceasefire agreement in Sudan
    Washington, Riyadh call for new ceasefire agreement in Sudan
    June 5, 2023
    Ugandan president says 54 peacekeepers killed in Somalia deadly attack
    Ugandan president says 54 peacekeepers killed in Somalia deadly attack
    June 5, 2023
  • Interviews
    InterviewsShow More
    EFG Finance to launch unified platform gathering all its financing services: Alaa Al-Afifi
    EFG Finance to launch unified platform gathering all its financing services: Alaa Al-Afifi
    May 31, 2023
    I changed my artistic path to create ‘state of wonder’: Tarek Lotfi
    I changed my artistic path to create ‘state of wonder’: Tarek Lotfi
    May 25, 2023
    I adore Ramadan drama, ‘Telt Al-Talata’ series achieved great success: Ghada Abdel Razek
    I adore Ramadan drama, ‘Telt Al-Talata’ series achieved great success: Ghada Abdel Razek
    May 8, 2023
    We aim to establish Egypt as nearshore centre for Software AG for MET region: Rami Kichli
    We aim to establish Egypt as nearshore centre for Software AG for MET region: Rami Kichli
    April 29, 2023
    Egypt-Spain relations witness remarkable development in recent years: Spanish ambassador in Cairo
    Egypt-Spain relations witness remarkable development in recent years: Spanish ambassador in Cairo
    April 18, 2023
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Reading: Syria Islamists free nuns in rare prisoner swap
Share
Notification
Latest News
Suez Cement invests millions of dollars in environmental sustainability efforts
Suez Cement invests millions of dollars in environmental sustainability efforts
Business
As Egypt decides to establish tourist chambers, federation, what is in it for tourism industry?
As Egypt decides to establish tourist chambers, federation, what is in it for tourism industry?
Tourism
FRA extends deadline for electing Egyptian federation for securities’ board for 3 months
FRA extends deadline for electing Egyptian federation for securities’ board for 3 months
Business
New MoU signed to develop SMEs in industrial zone in East Port Said
New MoU signed to develop SMEs in industrial zone in East Port Said
Business
CI Capital records revenues of EGP 1.6bn in 1Q 2023
CI Capital records revenues of EGP 1.6bn in 1Q 2023
Business
Aa
Aa
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • Advertise
© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.
Dailynewsegypt > Blog > Politics > Syria Islamists free nuns in rare prisoner swap
PoliticsRegion

Syria Islamists free nuns in rare prisoner swap

Daily News Egypt
Last updated: 2014/03/10 at 3:45 PM
By Daily News Egypt 6 Min Read
Share
Nuns kidnapped in December by Syrian rebels arrive at Jdeidet Yabus on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon after an arduous nine-hour journey that took them from Yabrud into Lebanon, and then back into Syria on March 10, 2014 (AFP, Louai Beshara)
SHARE
Nuns kidnapped in December by Syrian rebels arrive at Jdeidet Yabus on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon after an arduous nine-hour journey that took them from Yabrud into Lebanon, and then back into Syria on March 10, 2014  (AFP, Louai Beshara)
Nuns kidnapped in December by Syrian rebels arrive at Jdeidet Yabus on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon after an arduous nine-hour journey that took them from Yabrud into Lebanon, and then back into Syria on March 10, 2014
(AFP, Louai Beshara)

AFP – A group of nuns kidnapped in a Syrian village were freed Monday, part of a rare prisoner swap in a three-year war whose brutality is highlighted in a new Amnesty report.

Jihadists seized the 13 nuns and three maids on 3 December from the famed Christian village of Maalula – where residents still speak the ancient Aramaic of Jesus Christ – and took them to the nearby town of Yabrud.

The women, who arrived after midnight at the regime-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 nun told reporters.

She thanked Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as well as Lebanon’s General Security agency director Abbas Ibrahim, who mediated the exchange.

He 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 their kidnappers had forced the group of Syrian and Lebanese nuns to remove their crosses.

The nuns will be officially welcomed home Monday at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus.

They arrived at Jdeidet Yabus after an arduous nine-hour journey that took them from Yabrud into Lebanon, then back into Syria via the official crossing.

Video posted online by activists showed the women being transported to a transfer point by opposition fighters.

One nun was carried to a van by a fighter whose face is wrapped in a black scarf, and their convoy then moves along a road, flying the black flag used by jihadists.

At the transfer point, the nuns move forward as government security forces hand over a woman prisoner and her children.

A Britain-based monitoring group said 150 women who had been held in Syria’s jails were on board four buses at the Lebanese-Syrian border, after being freed in exchange for the nuns.

“A woman and her four children who had been in jail were freed first and reached Yabrud,” said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

But a security official said he could not confirm whether the remaining prisoners had yet been freed.

Tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of children, are being held in Syria’s jails, where torture and ill-treatment are systematic, rights groups say.

Sema Nassar, an activist who works on the issue of detainees, said she feared some of the released prisoners may face re-arrest in future should they return to Syria.

“In previous operations of this kind, women who have been released have only been detained again a couple of weeks later,” she told AFP.

The prisoner exchange comes as Syria’s army, backed by Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement and local pro-regime militias, fights to seize Yabrud, the last opposition stronghold in the strategic Qalamun area.

Rights group Amnesty International meanwhile issued a report on Monday accusing Syria’s army of using starvation as a “weapon of war” in its siege of a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus.

The watchdog said nearly 200 people had died since the army siege of the Yarmuk camp was tightened in July 2013 and access to food and medicine cut.

“Life in Yarmuk has grown increasingly unbearable for desperate civilians who find themselves starving and trapped in a downward cycle of suffering with no means of escape,” said Amnesty’s Philip Luther.

Amnesty said the Yarmuk siege was “the deadliest of a series of armed blockades of other civilian areas, imposed by Syrian armed forces or armed opposition groups on a quarter of a million people across the country.”

Syrian troops have besieged the camp as near-daily battles rage between rebels and pro-regime fighters.

Most of area’s 170,000 residents have fled, but some 20,000 are still trapped inside the camp, facing hardship and hunger, according to the UN refugee agency UNRWA.

More than 140,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began in March 2011 with peaceful anti-government protests.

Another 2.5 million Syrians have fled across the borders and a further 6.5 million are displaced inside the devastated country.

You Might Also Like

Arab League calls on Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities, oblige Israel to end occupation

Institute of Diplomatic Studies holds training course for diplomats from South Sudan

Al-Sisi participates in African meeting on mediation in Russian-Ukrainian crisis

Washington, Riyadh call for new ceasefire agreement in Sudan

Ugandan president says 54 peacekeepers killed in Somalia deadly attack

TAGGED: amnesty international, kidnapping, Syria, Yarmuk
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
Previous Article Heavy showers strain Egypt’s infrastructure
Next Article Egypt will provide 25,000 Ugandan families with clean water: Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation
3 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ad image
Ad image

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe

Latest News

Suez Cement invests millions of dollars in environmental sustainability efforts
Suez Cement invests millions of dollars in environmental sustainability efforts
Business
As Egypt decides to establish tourist chambers, federation, what is in it for tourism industry?
As Egypt decides to establish tourist chambers, federation, what is in it for tourism industry?
Tourism
FRA extends deadline for electing Egyptian federation for securities’ board for 3 months
FRA extends deadline for electing Egyptian federation for securities’ board for 3 months
Business
New MoU signed to develop SMEs in industrial zone in East Port Said
New MoU signed to develop SMEs in industrial zone in East Port Said
Business
//
Egypt’s only independent daily newspaper in English. Discuss the country’s latest with the paper’s reporters, editors, and other readers.

Quick Link

  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.

Join Us!

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news, podcasts etc..

Zero spam, Unsubscribe at any time.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?