It started with a suicide bomber.
On Sept. 4, 2013, a terrorist group launched an attack on a profoundly symbolic Syrian village.
"The dawn assault on the predominantly Christian village of Maaloula," reported the Associated Press, "was carried out by rebels from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group, according to a Syrian government official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-regime group.
"At the start of the attack, an al-Nusra fighter blew himself up at a regime checkpoint at the entrance to the village, said the Observatory, which collects information from a network of anti-regime activists," the Associated Press reported.
A story that ran on Sept. 6, 2013, in the London Daily Telegraph carried this headline: "Village that speaks the language of Christ taken by al-Qaeda."
"The inhabitants are mostly Melkite Greek Catholic and Orthodox Christians, who have historically lived peacefully alongside Sunni Muslims," reported the Telegraph. "It is one of only three places in the world where Western Aramaic, a dialect of the language spoken by Christ, is still used."
"'They entered the main square and smashed a statue of the Virgin Mary,' said one resident, speaking by phone and too frightened to give his name," the Telegraph reported.
Maaloula, the Associated Press said, is "famous for two of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria - Mar Sarkis and Mar Takla."
"The stones are shaking," a nun at the Mar Takla monastery told the Associated Press. "We don't know if the rebels have left or not, nobody dares go out."
But then they had no choice but to go out.
In a report published by the Telegraph on Sept. 9, 2013, one of the nuns in Maaloula blamed the Syrian army for not saving them from the attack.
"Our army, the Syrian army, has failed us," she said, according to the Telegraph. "We called the army, we begged them to come inside Maaloula and save us but they stayed outside. They abandoned us because we are Christians."
That December, the nuns from this convent were kidnapped.
"Opposition fighters abducted 12 nuns from a Christian village overrun by rebels, Syria's Greek Orthodox patriarch and the head of a convent said Tuesday, adding to fears that hardline Muslim rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad were increasingly targeting Christians," the Associated Press reported on Dec. 4, 2013.
"The nuns and three other women were seized Monday from the Greek Orthodox Mar Takla convent in the village of Maaloula," the report said.
In March 2014, a deal was struck to free these nuns.
"They were freed as part of a prisoner exchange involving some 150 women and children held by the Syrian government," the BBC reported on March 10, 2014.
There was speculation that a ransom had also been paid to their kidnappers. "Two rebel leaders from Yabroud claimed Qatar had offered to pay $4m for the nuns' release, but that the al-Nusra Front had demanded $50m and the release of detained women and children," BBC reported. "Syrian state media reports did not mention any swap or payment."
Syria retook Maaloula a month later -- with the help of Hezbollah terrorists.
"Syrian soldiers backed by Hezbollah fighters recaptured the town of Maaloula," Reuters reported on April 14, 2014.
"Islamist fighters, some from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, had taken over part of the ancient Christian town in December and held several nuns captive until releasing them in March in a prisoner-exchange deal," said Reuters.
Before the al-Nusra front had seized Maaloula and kidnapped the nuns, the U.S. State Department had designated their leader, Muhammad al-Jawlani, as a terrorist.
"The Department of State has designated al-Nusrah Front leader Muhammad al-Jawlani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist," the State Department said in a statement issued on May 16, 2013.
"Al-Jawlani is considered the leader of al-Nusrah," said the State Department. "He has stated in videos that his ultimate goal is the overthrow of the Syrian regime and the institution of Islamist shari'a law throughout the country."
"Under al-Jawlani's leadership, al-Nusrah Front has carried out multiple suicide attacks throughout Syria," the State Department said in 2013.
Under al-Jawlani (also translated as al-Jolani), al-Nusrah Front merged with other organizations and evolved into Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
In July 2016, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "al-Jolani announced the dissolution of Jabhat al-Nusra and the establishment of a new group, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
"The group no longer had 'external ties' with al-Qaeda," said the CSIS report.
"In late January 2017, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham rebranded yet again when it merged with several other groups ... to establish HTS," said this report.
Now, HTS has managed to overthrow the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, who fled last week to Russia. "The rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, is responsible for toppling the Assad family's five-decade grip on power," National Public Radio noted this Sunday.
Assad led an evil government. "This regime brutalized and tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians," President Joe Biden said Sunday.
"It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country," Biden said.
But they will not be able to do that if their future is controlled by leaders who utilized suicide bombers, occupied a Christian city and kidnapped nuns.
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