BEIRUT: About a dozen nuns held in Syria for more than three months have been released and are on their way to Damascus via Lebanon, a Lebanese security source and church officials said on Sunday.

The security source said the nuns had been transferred to the Lebanese town of Arsal earlier in the week and were on their way to Syria on Sunday. The nuns went missing in December after fighters took the ancient quarter of the Christian town of Maaloula north of Damascus. After being held in the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla in Maaloula, they were reportedly moved to the town of Yabroud, about 20 km to the north, which is now the focus of a government military operation.

It was unclear exactly who had held the nuns and why they had been released now. Speaking to reporters at the border, Syrian Greek Orthodox Bishop Louka Al-Khoury welcomed the news.