A suicide bomb attack at a church in Damascus has left at least 22 people dead and 63 others injured, Syria’s health ministry confirmed late Sunday.
According to the interior ministry, a man armed with a weapon opened fire inside the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in the Dweila neighbourhood during evening service, before detonating an explosive vest.
Authorities said the attacker was affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, though the group has not officially claimed responsibility.
Images from the scene show a shattered altar, broken pews strewn with glass, and blood spattered across the church’s interior.
Eyewitness Lawrence Maamari described the terrifying moment to AFP news agency: “Someone entered [the church] from outside carrying a weapon” and began firing. “People tried to stop him before he blew himself up,” he said.
Another witness, Ziad, who was in a nearby shop, recalled hearing gunfire followed by an explosion. “We saw fire in the church and the remains of wooden benches thrown all the way to the entrance,” he told reporters.
The attack is the first of its kind in the capital since December, when Islamist-led rebel forces ousted President Bashar al-Assad, ending a 13-year civil war.
In a statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch condemned the violence: “The treacherous hand of evil struck this evening, claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening divine liturgy.”
The patriarchate said the blast occurred at the church entrance, killing both worshippers inside and people standing nearby.
It called on Syria’s interim authorities to “assume full responsibility for what has happened and continues to happen in terms of violation against the sanctity of churches, and to ensure the protection of all citizens.”
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said investigative teams are working to uncover the full details of what he labelled “a reprehensible crime.” He added: “These terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace.”
The United Nations also condemned the attack. Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, urged Syrians “to unite in rejecting terrorism, extremism, incitement and the targeting of any community.”
US special envoy Tom Barrack called the bombing “a terrible act of cowardice,” saying such attacks have “no place in the new tapestry of integrated tolerance and inclusion that Syrians are weaving.”
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa – head of the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a UN-designated terrorist organisation – has made repeated promises to protect religious and ethnic minorities.
Yet the country has experienced two major waves of sectarian violence in recent months.
IS has a long history of targeting Christians and other religious minorities in Syria. In 2016, the group claimed responsibility for a series of bombings near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in southern Damascus, killing more than 70 people.
At the height of its power, IS controlled about 88,000 square kilometres of territory across Syria and Iraq, imposing strict rule over nearly eight million people. Though it was militarily defeated in Syria in 2019, the group’s threat remains.
A UN report released in February warned that IS could exploit Syria’s current transitional period to ramp up attacks and attract foreign fighters.
The group is estimated to have between 1,500 and 3,000 fighters in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, with many believed to be operating in the central Badia desert, a hub for planning overseas operations.
More than 9,000 suspected IS fighters remain detained in prisons across north-eastern Syria. An additional 40,000 individuals, mostly women and children linked to the group, are being held in multiple camps.
