How do you not root for Assad here?

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian government forces launched an offensive to wrest back control of an historic Christian town north of Damascus on Monday, activists said.

In the past six days, the town of Maaloula has already changed hands three times between President Bashar Assad’s forces and rebel groups, some of which are linked to al-Qaida.

Combatants say the intensity of fighting over the town is due to its strategic location near the road leading from Damascus to the central city of Homs.

But fighting in an area with such religious symbolism could increase anxieties among the Christian minority, who have watched sectarian violence between majority Sunni Muslims and the Alawite minority overshadow the revolt against Assad’s rule.

The fighting near Maaloula, in the Qalamoun mountains north of the capital, threatens ancient Christian sites nestled in the hillsides that were a site of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims alike.

The Britain-based Observatory, which opposes Assad, said that troops and militia loyal to the president re-entered Maaloula early Saturday but withdrew in the evening when rebels brought in reinforcements.

Retreating government forces continued to shell and clash with insurgents on the outskirts of Maaloula on Sunday and Monday, said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, though violence inside the town abated on Monday morning.