Rome - Families of two girls held by Islamist militants awaited word Friday after a video broke months of silence.

   The video published on Youtube evidently proved that Greta Ramelli and Vanessa Marzullo still are arrived but Italian secret service sources called the prolonged kidnapping that started when they were snatched in the Syrian city of Aleppo July 31 "a very delicate situation" as the Syrian version of Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, claimed responsibility for the abduction.

   Speaking English with eyes lowered, Ramella said "we beg our government and its mediators to bring us back home by Christmas."

 "We are in extreme danger and could be killed" she added, "the government and its mediators are responsible for our lives," she said as Marzullo, holding a placard with the date December 17,   squinted briefly at the camera without speaking.

 The two girls were long dark tunics that coveres their bodies and hair leaving only their faces visible. They seemed thin and their features were drawn and haggard from their ordeal.

  Nevertheless relatives said they were encouraged by the video. "They seem fairly well even if a difficult condition," said Salvatore Marzullo, father of Vanessa, underlining that both families are in constant contact with the Italian Foreign Ministry and that they hope "to have good news soon."

  Fronte al Nusra in its statement said it is holding the two because "Italy supports the raids in Syria against us". A third Italian hostage, Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio, was kidnapped at the end of July 2013 and is believed to be held by Isis at Raqqa.

 The video was the first public information on Greta and Vanessa since September 20 when the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar denied reports that they were being held by Isis.

  "We are in a very delicate phase that requires maximum reserve," an Italian intelligence source said.

  House Speaker Laura Boldrini said authorities are aware that "the situation is anguished" and  that "the girls are sending a cry for rescue," saying she hopes that "one will be able to bring them home".