Click to see full-size image. Via Telegram.
At least 20 people were killed when suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on June 22, in the first such terrorist attack since the fall of the regime of of former president Bashar al-Assad last December.
The Interior Ministry said that the suicide bomber was a member of ISIS. He entered the church, opened fire and then detonated his explosive vest, according to a statement released by the ministry.
However, a Syrian security source told Reuters that two gunmen were involved in the attack, including the one who blew himself up.
Citing the Health Ministry, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said that 52 people were also injured in the terrorist attack.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist bombing that targeted the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus. This crime will not undermine the unity and will of our people. We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded,” Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on the X social network.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the final offensive that brought down the Assad regime, promised to protect minorities after entering Damascus. However, attacks on minorities are still being reported on a daily basis.
Last March, over 1,700 civilians, mostly members of the Alawite minority, were killed in a brutal government crackdown on the coast. Later between April and May, over 100 members of the Druze minority were killed in a series of attacks near Damascus, also attributed to government forces.
So far, the government has done very little to actually protect the minorities, who remain excluded from the country’s new security apparatus.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
