In Syria, residents return to battered town retaken by government
QUSAIR, Syria — A line of unmarked cars and pickup trucks ferried weary Hezbollah fighters back to Lebanon on Sunday as stunned residents began returning to this war-ravaged town, in Syrian government control again after a fierce three-week battle that ended last week.
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Among the first to return were various families from Qusair's Christian minority, who represented perhaps 10% of the more than 40,000 residents of Qusair. Many arrived to find rubble in place of homes where their families had lived for generations. In front of one row of caved-in structures, several Christian residents profusely thanked a Hezbollah commander for having helped eject the rebels, whom the Christians viewed as hostile to non-Muslims.
"We've come back to our home and we don't have a place to sit or water to drink," said a retired house painter, 66, who gazed forlornly at the battered remains of a pair of adjacent homes where he and his extended family had lived for decades. "I don't understand what kind of freedom [the rebels] were looking for," added the resident, Salim, who, like others, asked to be identified only by his first name for security reasons.
Several holes pierced the gold-colored dome of St. Elias Roman Catholic Church, a prominent structure in the center of town. Inside, the marble altar was broken, the likenesses of saints and Christ were defaced and the walls were filled with anti-Christian graffiti with sayings such as, "The religion of our master will be victorious against all tyrants."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-qusair-20130610,0,3657384.story
(It is noteworthy that the Christians flee from the insurgents across the country. And when government authority is restored, they come back.)
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