That 'Religion of Pieces'
Deadly church bombing reignites Christians' fears in post-Assad Syria
By Suzan Haidamous & Mohamad El Chamaa The Washington Post
Published June 27, 2025
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BEIRUT — A deadly suicide bombing at a church outside Damascus, which Syrian authorities have blamed on the Islamic State, has revived worries that extremists might exploit Syria's fragile peace as its six-month-old government tries to keep a lid on bubbling sectarian violence across the country after the demise of the brutal Assad regime.
At least 25 people were killed and 63 were wounded in the Sunday bombing at the Saint Elias Church in the suburb of Dweila, Syrian health officials said Monday. The attack, which took place during Mass, was the deadliest on Syrian Christians since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said in a statement Monday that it had apprehended members of an Islamic State cell that plotted the attack, and killed "the main person involved in facilitating the suicide bomber's entry into the church." A day earlier, the ministry said the perpetrator entered the church and began shooting at parishioners before detonating the bombs on his body.
"The main target of this attack is not only the Christian component in Syria, but all Syrians, regardless of their affiliation," Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said at a news conference Sunday night.
Baba noted that the Interior Ministry had previously foiled bombing attempts by Islamic State militants at the Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, considered a sacred site for Shiite Muslims, and a church in Maaloula, a village known as the oldest Christian community in the world.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, condemned the church attack on X. "These terrible acts of cowardice have no place in the new tapestry of integrated tolerance and inclusion that Syrians are weaving," he wrote. The U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, in a statement urged authorities to take "all necessary steps to ensure the protection of civilians, to bring those responsible to justice, and to ensure such tragedies are not repeated."
Karam Abou Janb, 33, told The Washington Post he was near the church when the attack happened and saw two gunman shooting at people outside. He said one fled and the other stormed in, adding that "the men at the entrance tried to stop him and take his gun; that's when he blew himself up." Thick smoke began to billow and as Abou Janb approached the church entrance, he saw "bodies scattered into pieces; some were burned and charred. I could not tolerate the scene and felt like passing out," he said.
Video taken after the attack showed religious paintings that had fallen from the walls and glass strewn across the ground and the church's pews.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a statement Monday that his government will mobilize "all our specialized security forces to apprehend all those who participated in and planned this heinous crime."
Later Monday, Sharaa called Greek Orthodox Archbishop Romanos al-Hannat to share his condolences. In audio of the call posted by state television, Sharaa can be heard saying, "The most important thing is that we remain strong; there are people who are bothered by the national unity that has happened in Syria."
The attack has resurfaced fears among Syria's Christians, who have been anxious about their future in the country since Sharaa, who led the Islamist rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, swept into power. Before the civil war broke out in 2011, Syria was home to more than 1.5 million Christians; today, local religious officials estimate that number to be around 400,000.
Augeen al-Kass, the bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church, told The Post that he and a group of other bishops met Monday to discuss funeral procedures for Tuesday, as well as security arrangements.
"There is a lot of fear," Kass said. "The fear is not from this incident. It is from what is coming next. The followers are the ones who are afraid as well, because it is going to affect the Christian presence in the area."
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Syria called on authorities to "assume full responsibility for the violation of the sanctity of churches that has occurred and is occurring."
Though Syria's new president has sought to reassure the country's minorities - his new government includes a Druze, an Alawite and a Christian, and in February it welcomed a Jewish delegation after its members had spent more than 30 years in exile - his government has struggled to stamp out sectarian violence.
In March, sectarian violence on Syria's coast resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. The monitoring group said most of them were from the country's Alawite religious community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad's family belongs. The violence there escalated after a nascent insurgency, linked in part to former military figures in the Assad regime, staged a wave of attacks on government security forces.
In May, fighting broke out in Syria's south between members of the Druze community and Islamist gunmen backing the new Syrian government.
Syria's government has also so far failed to make strides on implementing an agreement with the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to integrate the northeast of the country with the rest of Syria.
Aaron Y. Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said a speedy government response and restoring the church can help alleviate fears held by the community, but warned that a lack of a transitional justice process countrywide "undermines the potential for some broader healing in society."