© (Reuters / Ahmed Jadallah)Fighters from Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra
The attack began at dawn when a Jabhat al-Nusra fighter blew himself up at a government checkpoint near the entrance to Maaloula - a village of 2,000 residents - according to a Syrian official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from anti-regime activists.
Following the suicide bombing, al-Nusra rebels and government forces traded fire, with the rebels eventually seizing the checkpoint and taking over a hotel on a mountain overlooking the village, according the Observatory and a local nun.
Rebels also disabled two tanks and an armored personnel carrier and killed eight regime soldiers during the fighting.
From the mountaintop hotel, rebels fired shells into the village, forcing around 80 people to take refuge in a convent, the nun said.
A Syrian government official has confirmed the attack, AP reported.
Rebel mortar fire hit a sports hall in Damascus, killing Mohammed Ali Neimeh, a member of the national taekwondo team, state news agency SANA reported.
© AFPA Syrian nun lights candles inside the historical church of Mar Taqla in the village of Maaloula north of Damascus
The ongoing fighting between various rebel forces - often with conflicting aims and loyalties - and Assad's military unfolded Wednesday as the US came closer to authorizing military attacks on Syrian government entities in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons weeks ago.
A US Senate panel confirmed a resolution for force on Wednesday, which will see a vote from the full Senate soon. Meanwhile, the US House questioned key administration officials about the scope and strategy of any assault on Syrian forces.
A team of UN investigators is still analyzing samples taken near Damascus to confirm whether Western allegations that the Syrian government launched the attack are true.
Regardless, US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he will not hesitate to use force in Syria even if Congress fails to lend its support.
"As commander in chief I always preserve the right and the responsibility to act on behalf of America's national security. I don't believe that I was required to take this to Congress. But I did not take this to Congress because I think it's an empty exercise," Obama said during a news conference in Stockholm on Wednesday, after a meeting with the Swedish prime minister.
In a parliament debate, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for intervention in Syria, saying that Assad had used chemical weapons and will do so again if not deterred by a Western-led force.
Update from Press TV:
Syrian army soldiers are battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in and around a Christian mountain village in the west of the country.
The foreign-backed militants launched an assault on the ancient Christian village of Maaloula on Wednesday after an al-Nusra Front fighter blew himself up in front of an army checkpoint outside the village.
The militants then seized a mountaintop hotel and began shelling the community there.
They also reportedly surrounded a church and a mosque before the Syrian government forces fought them off to retake the village, located some 60 km northeast of the capital Damascus, on Thursday.
More clashes have occurred in the mountains around the village between government troops and al-Qaeda linked fighters.
Home to around 2,000 people, the village of Maaloula has been registered on the UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites. Some villagers there still speak a version of Aramaic, an ancient language believed to have been spoken by Jesus Christ.
Reader Comments
He has no right at all. It is his responsibility to care for his people, the people from the streets, the people that voted him into office. But those responsibilities to the People have been disregarded a long long time ago. National security? Since when is invading half the world and holding the rest at gunpoint a question of national security? No, this is about a criminal enterprise, called "Imperialism" -- and the world is finally starting to notice.