BREAKING: Suicide bomber hits Damascus church, casualties reported - Region
A blast struck the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighbourhood of the Syrian capital during what appeared to be a service, with a witness telling Reuters the attacker blew himself up inside the building.
The Syrian news outlet Levant 24, citing local sources, reported that the attacker opened fire on worshippers before detonating explosives. Some reports suggested at least 15 people were killed.
Syria's state news agency, SANA, said ambulances were evacuating casualties and Internal Security Forces had cordoned off the area.
#Syria BREAKING: a suicide attack just took place at the St. Elias church in Dwel'a, on the eastern outskirts of #Damascus.
This is the first suspected Islamic State terror attack in Syria since the fall of #Assad. pic.twitter.com/ykmWcx7MD6 — Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) June 22, 2025
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Follow us on:
Short link:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Egypt Independent
6 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
US citizen among eight Druze family members executed during Syria's sectarian violence
CNN — An American citizen from Oklahoma was among eight men, all family members, rounded up and killed in an execution-style attack during the sectarian violence that flared in Syria last week. Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old Syrian-American, was identified by a friend and a US relative as one of eight men whose killing was captured on a video that circulated on social media over the weekend. The video, which has been geolocated by CNN, shows a group of armed men wearing military uniforms and face masks firing on eight captives while shouting 'God is great.' CNN cannot independently verify the identify of the gunmen in the video. A friend of the Saraya family said he believed they were militants aligned with the government. A school in Suwayda founded by Hosam Saraya also blamed government-linked fighters for the attack. CNN has reached out to the Syrian government for comment. Saraya's brother Kareem and other family members were also executed, according to the US relative, who asked not to be named for her safety. She spoke directly with relatives in Syria who said the family's male members had all been killed – leaving only their wives and daughters. The killings occurred on July 17 amid an outbreak of sectarian violence between Syrian Druze groups and Bedouin tribes in the Druze-majority Suwayda province. Saraya, who had studied in Oklahoma before returning to Syria, belonged to the Druze community, an Arab religious group of roughly one million people who primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. He had gone to Syria to care for his father who was ill, the US relative said. The relative said female family members who survived the massacre recalled how militants had stormed the family's multi-story home early in the morning, prompting the residents to fight back in defense. After one of the family members was wounded, the rest surrendered their weapons, she said, and the men were taken outside. The friend who CNN spoke to corroborated these details, saying he witnessed the militants storm the home and forcibly remove eight men, while leaving female family members inside. 'Pray for us' The US relative first learned of the attack when one of the female survivors sent her a desperate message: 'Pray for us, they kidnapped the boys, they shot the house, they stole stuff'. Twelve hours passed as the family desperately waited for news, hoping their relatives would return safely. It wasn't until another overseas relative saw the videos circulating of their execution that they realized the eight men had been killed. The friend who spoke to CNN said relatives later told him the captives were marched 200 meters to Tishreen Square, where they were lined up and executed. One of the men had sent a final message to friends that read, 'Come and help us if you can. They surrounded us,' the friend said. The friend, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, identified Hosam Saraya's body after watching the video. 'I don't know how monsters can do that,' the US relative told CNN. Asked about Saraya, the US State Department confirmed Monday that an American citizen had died in Suwayda. It did not offer details about the death but said it was 'greatly concerned when any US citizen is harmed overseas, wherever they are' and called 'for accountability in all cases where US citizens are harmed abroad.' Oklahoma Sens. James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin also confirmed the killing of an American from the state in Syria. 'Hosam was an Oklahoman and member of the Druze community who was tragically executed alongside other members of his family in Syria,' Lankford wrote on X. 'We are praying for his family, friends, and the entire community as they grieve this senseless loss.' Mullin wrote on X that an 'American citizen from Oklahoma' was 'brutally executed alongside his family members in Syria,' adding he was working with partners in the region to learn more. His tweet did not name the Saraya family. Widespread violence between the Druze minority and Bedouin tribes in southern Syria erupted on July 13 and has left hundreds dead in the latest explosion of sectarian bloodletting since the authoritarian rule of Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a coalition of Islamist rebels. The violence drew Israeli intervention in support of the Druze, as well as US condemnation and an international scramble to stop the fighting spiraling further. The Syrian government said over the weekend that clashes in Suwayda had stopped after a ceasefire agreement was reached between the government, Druze groups, and Bedouin tribes. A separate ceasefire was agreed between Syria and Israel. The deal was announced by US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who said it was 'embraced' by Turkey, Jordan and other neighboring countries.
Al-Ahram Weekly
6 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
US to leave UN cultural agency UNESCO again: Diplomats - Region
The United States will leave the United Nations' culture and education agency UNESCO as President Donald Trump continues to pull his country out of international institutions he has long criticized, two European diplomats told Reuters. The White House has not immediately responded to a request from Reuters for comment outside regular business hours. According to Reuters, the move is a blow to the Paris-based agency, founded after World War II to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture. The New York Post also reported on the US withdrawal, citing a White House official. Trump took similar steps during his first term, quitting the World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council, a global climate change accord, and the Iran nuclear deal. Joe Biden reversed those decisions after taking office in 2021, returning the US to UNESCO, the WHO, and the climate agreement. With Trump now back in the White House, the US is once again withdrawing from these global bodies. He has already decided to withdraw the US from the WHO and halt funding to the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA as part of a review of the country's participation in UN agencies, due to be concluded in August. UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — is best known for designating World Heritage Sites, including the Grand Canyon in the United States and the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. The United States initially joined UNESCO at its founding in 1945 but withdrew for the first time in 1984, in protest against alleged financial mismanagement and perceived anti-US bias. It returned almost 20 years later, in 2003, under President George W. Bush, who stated that the agency had undertaken the necessary reforms. The United States provides approximately eight percent of UNESCO's total budget, down from around 20 percent at the time Trump first withdrew the country from the agency. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Egypt Independent
6 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
How much do Republicans care about the Epstein files? More than it might seem
CNN — One of the biggest questions looming over President Donald Trump's second term right now is how much his supporters truly care about the Jeffrey Epstein files. The distinction between caring a lot vs. a little is critical. The former could mean a sustained problem for the president that bleeds into the midterm elections and affects turnout among his typically loyal base. The latter would mean this is likely nothing more than an ugly episode that ultimately fades away. So, now that we've had a chunk of time since the Justice Department released their controversial Epstein memo, how much do Republicans care about all this? A bevy of new polls show they're unhappy with how the Trump administration has handled this scandal and suggest it could be a persistent problem for the GOP. The base is about evenly split on the administration's actions, meaning there's a higher degree of skepticism than we almost ever see with Trump. And that might actually undersell the level of lingering GOP concern. Americans overall are negative — and the GOP is unusually split Multiple polls show widespread dissatisfaction overall with the Trump administration's handling of the matter. Both Reuters-Ipsos and Quinnipiac University polling showed Americans overall disapproved of how the Trump team has handled this by huge margins: 54-17 percent in the former and 63-17 percent in the latter. (The former poll's question was about Trump personally, while the latter was about the administration more broadly.) So that's just 17 percent of Americans who said Trump and the administration have gotten this right, in both polls. The vast majority in that group are, of course, Republicans. But delving into the GOP-specific takeaways, the party is about evenly split — which is unusual on the Trump administration's actions. They leaned slightly towards approving the handling of the Epstein probe, 35-29 percent in the Reuters-Ipsos poll and 40-36 percent in the Quinnipiac poll. It's difficult to recall an issue on which Republicans were so lukewarm about major Trump actions. For instance, even shortly after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, an event that led many to conclude that Trump's political career was over, a CNN poll showed Republicans approved of Trump's response by a strong margin: 63-32 percent. Many Republicans aren't dinging Trump yet — that could change Being disenchanted isn't the same as ditching someone politically, however. Precisely how much people actually care is a critical point. There's some evidence that Republicans are downplaying the significance of this. A new CBS News-YouGov poll released Sunday, for instance, showed just 11 percent of Republicans said Epstein-related issues matter 'a lot' in their evaluation of Trump's presidency. That's compared to 36 percent of overall voters who said that. To the extent that's true, it would seem this is something Trump could move past. But polling has a persistent weakness: Respondents aren't always totally honest with themselves or pollsters. For instance, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, the conventional wisdom was that Democrats' focus on democracy after the January 6 attack wasn't panning out and that the issue might even spur GOP turnout. The results ultimately showed that the issue was a significant benefit to Democrats, and election-denying Republicans did significantly worse than other Republicans. On Epstein, the CBS-YouGov poll suggests there are gaps between how much people say they care about the issue vs. what their other feelings or behavior reveals. While it showed 50 percent of Republicans said they were at least somewhat satisfied with the administration's Epstein actions, 83 percent of polled Republicans said the Justice Department should release all the information it has on Epstein — something the Trump administration has decidedly not done. (The administration late last week moved in court to unseal grand jury testimony. But that's only a small portion of the information, and much of it could remain secret.) The same poll also showed 90 percent of Republicans believed the Epstein files probably includes damaging information about wealthy or powerful people. Similarly, the Reuters-Ipsos poll showed Republicans said 55-17 percent that they believed the federal government is hiding information about Epstein's death, and 62-11 percent that it is hiding information about his clients. Those responses suggest Republicans aren't happy with the administration's meager disclosures, even if they're not looking to register that dissatisfaction when explicitly asked. Trump's support is very lukewarm The polling also reveals that even many of those who stand by Trump aren't doing so with a high degree of confidence. While the Reuters-Ipsos poll showed Republicans were about split on Trump's actions; only 11 percent 'strongly' approved of Trump's actions. And while half of Republicans in the CBS-YouGov poll said they were at least somewhat satisfied with the Trump administration's actions, just 10 percent were 'very' satisfied. That's only about 1 in 10 Republicans who look at this and say they completely sign off. The CBS-YouGov poll also showed MAGA Republicans were more likely to lean towards being satisfied (60 percent were at least 'somewhat' satisfied) than non-MAGA Republicans (41 percent). So are MAGA Republicans — the ones who have vociferously called for releasing more information on Epstein — more satisfied than their non-MAGA breathren? Or are they just feeling compelled to toe the Trump party line, at least somewhat? Regardless, those numbers don't mean this won't be a problem with a significant section of Trump's base. Those voters could sour on him, at least somewhat, perhaps in combination with other recent Trump actions they don't love, like on the war in Ukraine. A Wall Street Journal report last week on a letter Trump allegedly wrote for Epstein's 50th birthday back in 2003 appeared to unite even many Epstein-focused influencers behind Trump and against the media, their frequent common enemy. Trump denied he wrote the letter and has sued the Journal; his base seems to largely believe he's being railroaded. But that doesn't mean they're satisfied overall and ready to let the issue go. The data suggest that, for now, this remains a minefield for Trump.
