This mystical cliffside community, located roughly 35 miles outside Syria’s capital, Damascus, is usually a quiet one. Church bells toll gently, incense carries on the wind, and elders sit streetside, playing chess and swapping stories. Despite its peaceful appearance, however, Maaloula wasn’t spared from the bloody Syrian civil war. In 2013, two years after the conflict erupted, rebels from the jihadist paramilitary group al-Nusra Front seized Maaloula, turning it into a de facto military base. Most of Maaloula’s residents were forced to flee.