VIDEO: Abducted Maaloula nuns call for their release

A new video was aired on Sunday depicting the abducted Maaloula nuns calling for efforts for their release.

A Syrian rebel group calling itself "Free Qalamoun" claimed on Friday, December 06, the responsibility for kidnapping 12 nuns and said it wants to trade them for a thousand female detainees held by the government.

Rebel spokesman Mohannad Abu al-Fidaa said the nuns were safe but "will not be released until several demands have been implemented, most importantly, the release of 1,000 Syrian women held in regime prisons".

Syria's Christian minority have generally tried to stay on the sidelines of the sectarian conflict pitting majority Sunni Muslims against the Alawite minority. Many Christians fear the rise of hardline Islamist groups.

Islamist fighters who captured the Christian village of Maaloula north of Damascus moved the nuns from the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla to the nearby town of Yabrud, according to the Vatican envoy to Syria, Mario Zenari.


To watch the full video, please click on the image above.