OPPOSITION FIGHTERS ABDUCTED 12 nuns from a Christian village overrun by rebels, Syria’s Greek Orthodox patriarch and the head of a convent said today, adding to fears that hard-line Muslim rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad are increasingly targeting Christians.

The nuns join two bishops and a priest who were previously kidnapped by rebels.

Syria’s minorities, including Christians, have mostly sided with Assad or remained neutral in Syria’s civil war, fearing for their fate if the rebels, increasingly dominated by Islamic extremists, come to power. Christians have accused radicals among the rebels of abusing residents and vandalizing churches after taking Christian towns.

The nuns and three other women were seized yesterday from the Greek Orthodox Mar Takla convent in the village of Maaloula and taken to the nearby rebel-held town of Yabroud, which also has a large Christian population, said Mother Superior Febronia Nabhan, head of the nearby Saidnaya Convent.

Plea

Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yazigi made a fervent plea for the release of the women, as well as some two dozen orphans the nuns care for at the convent, although it could not be immediately confirmed that the children were also taken.

“We appeal to the seed of conscience that God planted in all humans, including the kidnappers, to release our sisters safely,” he said in a statement.

“We call upon the international community and world governments to (help secure the) release of nuns of Mar Takla convent and the orphans who are being held since yesterday.”

Nabhan told The Associated Press that the Maaloula convent’s mother superior, Pelagia Sayaf, called her late yesterday from Yabroud and said the nuns and the other women were all safe. She made no mention of the orphans.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists around the country, said the fate of the nuns is unknown, adding there were conflicting reports on whether they were taken to a nearby area or not.

The Observatory said it received information late yesterday saying that the nuns “are still alive.” It gave no further details.

Fighting

Syrian rebels captured large parts of Maaloula, some 60km northeast of the capital, yesterday after three days of fighting. Activists say the rebels who stormed the town included members of the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra or Nusra Front.

In September, rebels seized parts of Maaloula only to be driven out within a few days by government forces. The town was a major tourist attraction before the conflict began in March 2011. Some of its residents still speak a version of Aramaic, a biblical language spoken by Jesus.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said “terrorists” broke into the Mar Takla convent and held mother superior Sayaf and a number of other nuns “as hostages and sabotaged churches and houses”. It urged the international community to condemn the attack.

In two letters sent to the heads of the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. secretary-general late yesterday, the ministry said: “Syria is facing a barbarian war launched by extremist [...] gangs targeting its present and future”.

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