Syrian [Catholic] town cut off by blockade, residents face hunger; [ancient monastery damaged by bombs]
CWN – August 22, 2012
More than 12,000 Syrian Catholics are trapped in the town of Rableh, near Homs, where there lives are endangered by hunger and disease, the Fides news service reports.
Rebel forces have maintained a blockade around Rableh, preventing the delivery of needed food and medicine. Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham has issued an urgent call for help for the people of the town.
In a separate development, Fides reports that the monastery of St. James the Mutilated in Qara was damaged by bombs. Although no lives were lost, damage to the 6th-century monastery was extensive. The bombs were dropped from a helicopter, apparently sent by Syrian forces to attack rebel troops.
Additional sources for this story: Over 12 thousand Christian faithful “starving” in the village of Rableh: humanitarian law is invoked (Fides) www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=32078&lan=eng