The Battle of Ma'loula was fought in September 2013, when rebel forces attacked the town of Ma'loula, a Christian town with an Assyrian/Syriac population that speaks Western Neo-Aramaic.
Mostly they are set in Damascus, occasionally in Ma'loula, the village the author's family originates from.
In Ma'loula, Syria, a Greek Orthodox nunnery of St. Thecla Deir Mar Takla was built near what is said to be her cave tomb, reached by steps in the mountainside, a pilgrimage site with a holy well.