Sadad Christian town in full control of Syrian army

Syrian army gained full control over the Christian town of Sadad in North of Damascus after a week of clashes with Al-Qaeda-linked militants who had recently captured key parts of it. The state-run SANA news agency said the army "restored security and stability" to the town of Sadad early on Monday. However key parts of the town were already in control of the army since Saturday but, clashes were still going on at remote areas around the town. Around two thousand militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front stormed and occupied the ancient town of Sadad nearly a month ago and sieged its fifteen thousand residents to use them as human shields against the Syrian army. Sadad is a very old town and probably the one mentioned in the Old Testament under the name Zedad, translated as Sedada. It is located on the edge of the desert and the community has remained predominantly Syriac Orthodox.  Aramaic is still spoken there.