Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad visits Christian town of Maaloula

21/4/14

From Maaloula, President al-Assad asserts that Syria’s human landmarks will remain steadfast.

Damascus, (SANA) On the occasion of Easter, and from the heart of Maaloula town in Damascus countryside, President Bashar al-Assad wished a blessed Easter for all Syrians.

During his visit to Maaloula town, President al-Assad visited the Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus and inspected the damage and destruction caused to the monastery by terrorists.

President al-Assad said that the acts of the terrorist groups indicate their identity and the identity of those who support them, giving a clear image of their barbarism as they target people and stone alike.

In Safir Maaloula Hotel, which terrorists had once seized and used as headquarters and base to commit their crimes against locals, President al-Assad met members of the Syrian Arab Army and national defense forces, saluting them and those who rose to defend the homeland from terrorists.

He asserted that Syria’s steadfastness and the armed forces’ success in restoring security and stability to towns in which terrorists had been running amok could not have been possible if it wasn’t for the state of solidarity between the country’s people, both civilians and military personnel, not could it have been achieved without the people’s support for the army.

After passing the Eastern mountain pass, President al-Assad visited St. Thecla Monastery which was also vandalized deliberately by terrorists, with the President asserting that no one, no matter the scale of the terrorism they employ, can erase Syria’s human and cultural history.

“Maaloula will remain, along with other human landmarks, steadfast in the face of the barbarianism and obscurantism of all those who are targeting the homeland, and they will remain a monument to the civilization of Syrians, while history will mark that what this town and other historic locations in Syria went through is proof the takfiri and obscurantist mentality of the aggressors” he said.

Passing through Ein al-Tineh village on his way back from Maaloula, a number of locals gathered around President al-Assad, asserting that they stand alongside the homeland in the face of all that targets it.

The President lauded the national defense forces in the village who stood alongside the armed forces in defense of their village and neighboring area, asserting that the honorable position of the people of Ein al-Tineh is an example of the Syrian society which rallies together if a section of it is threatened.

President al-Assad said that terrorists failed to incite dissent in the Syrian society no matter how many times they try, adding “the village of Ein al-Tineh is one of many examples of this, as it rose to defend Maaloula.”

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