Activist group: Syrian troops attack hills around rebel-held Christian village

BEIRUT – A Syrian activist group says the army is attacking hills overlooking a rebel-held Christian-majority village near the capital Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra or Nusra Front and the Qalamon Liberation Front still control Maaloula, an ancient village that is home to two of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said troops attacked the hills around Maaloula early Monday under the cover of heavy shelling.

Rebels captured the village on Saturday. The battle has thrown a spotlight on the deep-seated fears that many of Syria’s religious minorities harbour about the growing role of Islamic extremists on the rebel side in Syria’s civil war.