Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels force Christian to convert at gunpoint: ‘He’s one of ours now’

"Maalula....the wound of Christ" (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels who seized the ancient regime-held Christian town of Maalula last week forced at least one person to convert to Islam at gunpoint and executed another one after he refused, residents said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported.

“They arrived in our town at dawn on Wednesday and shouted ‘We are from the Al-Nusra Front and have come to make lives miserable for the Crusaders,’” an Islamist term for Christians, a woman, who identified herself as Marie, told AFP in Damascus.

Thousands headed to the capital Wednesday to attend the burial of three Christians from the village who have been killed.

“Maalula is the wound of Christ,” mourners chanted as they marched through the streets, AFP said. Keep reading

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If you skipped the previous article, I recommend that you read it. Among the possible outcomes of a US military strike against Syria is that the strike could so destabilize the elite unit controlling Syria's chemical weapons that Islamic extremists would be given a chance to seize the arsenal.