A person set off a suicide bomb in the Mar Elias Church in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Sunday evening. Reuters reports. At least 15 people have lost their lives in the attack and 52 are injured.
Syria's Ministry of Interior states that the perpetrator was a member of the Islamic State. However, it is worth noting that at the time of writing, Islamic State has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Therefore, time will tell if the Islamic State was really behind the terrorist attack.
This is the first terrorist attack on churches since the fall of former Syrian President Assad in December 2024. Assad largely protected Syria's Christians, but when Islamic State took over Syria and Iraq in 2014, many Christians were displaced from their homes but were able to flee to government-controlled areas.
Under the leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Sunni Islamist militants seized power in Syria in December 2024. HTS originates from Al Qaeda and thus has a fundamentalist Islamist basis.
However, HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa promised upon taking power that minorities, including Christians, would be free to live in Syria.
Danish European Mission has contact with a priest in Damascus. After the massacre of the Alawite minority in early March 2025, he said: "Syrian Christians are uncertain about the future and especially about the policies of the new Islamic regime. Ahmed al-Sharaa (Syria's new leader) regularly appears on TV and promises that minorities will be able to live safely in Syria. But the thing is, his coalition is made up of many militias, not all of which necessarily obey him. Some Islamic militias may rebel against Ahmed al-Sharaa and attack Christians."
Support Syria: Emergency aid for Christians and other displaced people
Emergency aid for 855 vulnerable people in Syria
Since the Islamic State took over Syria in 2014, the Danish European Mission's supporters and donors have ensured that vulnerable Syrian Christians and other minorities have been able to receive emergency aid. The Islamic State has been defeated, but there is still widespread poverty in the country, partly due to the devaluation of the Syrian pound, which weakens the purchasing power of ordinary citizens.
In 2024, 855 people received food, medicine and other necessities as needed.
