A group of nuns kidnapped in a Syrian village were freed Monday, part of a rare prisoner swap in a three-year war.
Jihadists seized the 13 nuns and three maids on December 3 from the famed Christian village of Maaloula and took them to the nearby town of Yabrud.
The women, who arrived after midnight at the government-held town of Jdeidet Yabus near the border with Lebanon, were exhausted but full of praise for those who negotiated their release.
"We want to thank God, who made it possible for us to be here now. We thank (Syria's) President Bashar al-Assad for being in contact with the emir of Qatar" Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, one of the nuns told reporters.
"We will not forget the honest mediator, Abbas Ibrahim," she added, in reference to Lebanon's General Security agency director.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/maaloula-nuns-freed-syria-prisoner-swap