Mideast governments condemn suicide bombing of Syrian church as death toll rises to 25
The attack Sunday on the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox church during a Divine Liturgy in Dweil'a, near Damascus, was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities.
The Interior Ministry and witnesses said a gunman entered the church and opened fire on the congregation before detonating an explosive vest.
State news agency SANA, citing the Health Ministry, said 63 other people were wounded in the attack. Father Fadi Ghattas told The Associated Press that some 350 people were praying at the church.
The United States, the European Union and governments across the Middle East condemned the attack, decrying it as a terrorist attack.
'These terrible acts of cowardice have no place in the new tapestry of integrated tolerance and inclusion that Syrians are weaving,' said U.S. Special Envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack in a post on X. 'We continue to support the Syrian government as it fights against those who are seeking to create instability and fear in their country and the broader region.'
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry in a statement affirmed Riyadh's rejection of 'the targeting of places of worship, the intimidation of innocent civilians, and the innocent bloodshed.'
As President Ahmad al-Sharaa struggles to exert authority across the country, there have been concerns about the presence of sleeper cells of extremist groups in the war-torn country.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the church, but the Interior Minister has blamed the extremist Islamic State group.
Syrians decried the attack, many seeing it as a blow to stability in the country after 14 years of war. Syrian Christians have appealed that the attack is not just a threat against them but to everyone in the country regardless of their religious affiliation.
'It is definitely an attack on civil peace and coexistence in this country,' said Wassim Boutros, who lives in Damascus.
Wajiha umm Mohammed said that she and her daughter were devastated to learn that one of their friends was killed in the attack.
'All our lives, we've been Christians and Muslims together—living side by side,' umm Mohammed, a Muslim, said. 'We've never let anything divide us, and we won't start now.'
She called for more government action to protect minorities.
'On our holiday—Eid al-Adha—there was a strong security presence at the mosque. So during mass, there should also be security, with checks on who goes in and out and proper screening," she said. 'Where was the security for this? This isn't right — it's wrong.'
Since the toppling of Bashar Assad and his family's decades-long dictatorial rule of Syria last December in a lightning insurgency, al-Sharaa has been pushing to win the support of Syria's non-Sunni-Muslim minority groups who are concerned about life under Islamist rule.
—
Chehayeb reported from Beirut.
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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Trump eyes bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian nations into Abraham Accords, sources say
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The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
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Telegraph
14 hours ago
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He also spent time in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, where he met and associated with Mohammed Sidique Khan, a fellow Yorkshire terror sympathiser, and Shehzad Tanweer, his accomplice. They would go on to carry out the deadly 7/7 bombings in London that killed 52 people on underground trains and a bus in July 2005. Aswat served most of his sentence in America and was deported back to the UK in December 2022. He is currently detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital in Bromley, south-east London. A Government spokesman said: 'Protecting our national security is the very first priority of this Government and if any individual poses a threat to that security, the police and intelligence services have a range of powers they can apply to deal with that threat. 'We will always do whatever is necessary inside the law to protect the public from any risk posed by former terrorist offenders or people of terrorist concern.'
