Deadly church attack raises security fears for Syrians, minorities

Sunday’s deadly onslaught connected the Mar Elias Church successful Damascus has shaken Syria, and peculiarly the country’s Christians.

The onslaught connected Sunday killed astatine slightest 25 people, aft a antheral with a firearm entered the religion and changeable astatine worshippers, earlier detonating a termination bomb. It has raised questions about the quality of the caller Syrian authorities to negociate information successful the state and support its citizens, including those from number groups.

The Syrian Interior Ministry blamed ISIL (ISIS) for the attack, though different radical called Saraya Ansar al-Sunna aboriginal claimed it. Government officials described the onslaught arsenic an effort to undermine their efforts to found a authorities pursuing the autumn of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad successful December.

“Sedition is happening,” Hind Kabawat, Syria’s Social and Labour Affairs minister, told Syria TV from a Damascus hospital, arsenic she fought backmost tears. “All Christians and Muslims and each Syrians request to beryllium beardown today. This is simply a large wound, and our symptom is big.”

Fears successful Syria

While the people of the onslaught was a religion – the archetypal of its benignant against a Syrian religion since the autumn of the al-Assad authorities – it serves arsenic a reminder of the precarious information concern the state inactive finds itself in, affecting each Syrians, arsenic the authorities attempts to supply stability.

“It’s precise dangerous,” Abu Hassan, a Damascus resident, told Al Jazeera by phone. He said that helium was wary of much attacks taking spot arsenic portion of an effort to sow disunity betwixt Syria’s Christians and Muslims.

“[The attacks] won’t disappear,” helium said. “There volition beryllium much blood. May God support this country.”

The extremity of the al-Assad regime, pursuing a much than 13-year warfare successful which hundreds of thousands died, was welcomed by astir Syrians. The al-Assad dynasty – Bashar had been preceded arsenic president by his begetter Hafez – had efficaciously built 1 of the world’s astir brutal constabulary states, with a immense web of competing information and quality branches that terrorised overmuch of the section population.

People and civilian defence members inspect the harm aft a blast rocked the Mar Elias Church successful the Dweil’a neighbourhood of Damascus, Syria, June 22, 2025 [Firas Makdesi/Reuters]

The antheral who has replaced Bashar al-Assad arsenic president is Ahmed al-Sharaa. His ain inheritance – arsenic a erstwhile subordinate of al-Qaeda who led the now-disbanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham successful the second years of the warfare – led galore Syrians to explicit doubts and concerns implicit his regularisation of specified a religiously and ethnically divers state.

Al-Sharaa has repeatedly promised to support minorities and physique an inclusive authorities for Syrians of each backgrounds and religions. But a bid of events successful the interim has sown distrust betwixt the ruling authorities and immoderate members of spiritual number groups.

Massacres committed successful the Alawite-dominated coastal portion successful March, followed by clashes betwixt government-affiliated forces and Druze militias successful May, rocked immoderate of the goodwill and religion the caller authorities had built up.

The Mar Elias Church onslaught is, of course, antithetic successful that it was perpetrated by an force of the caller government. But it has inactive contributed to the uncertainty felt by immoderate that the information concern successful Syria tin amended – particularly, though not exclusively, for minorities.

And that uncertainty is adjacent pushing immoderate minorities to see that they whitethorn person to wantonness their homes successful Syria and permission the country.

For galore observers, ultimately, the subordinate stops with the authorities.

“The authorities volition beryllium judged based connected what they are doing and however they lick the [security] issue,” Jerome Drevon, the International Crisis Group’s elder expert connected jihad and modern conflict, told Al Jazeera, “including the contented of spiritual minorities and however they support them”.

Need for justice

The authorities has said that it was capable to thwart 2 different planned attacks by the aforesaid compartment that was down the Mar Elias attack, 1 of which was going to people a Shia Muslim shrine successful Damascus.

ISIL has yet to assertion the attack, but is reportedly making inroads successful Syria. The radical had controlled immense swathes of territory successful Syria and Iraq arsenic portion of its self-declared “caliphate” earlier a United States-led run defeated it successful 2019, and forced its remnants to the peripheries.

Drevon said that the radical had been mostly contiguous successful Syria’s eastbound godforsaken successful caller years, until US aerial strikes and Syrian authorities enlargement led them to propulsion into cities.

ISIL present acts little arsenic a hierarchical organisation and much arsenic a web of autarkic cells, Drevon said, making it hard to afloat eradicate it.

“There is to immoderate grade a information vacuum due to the fact that determination are not capable forces to antheral the afloat country,” Drevon said.

Still, determination is besides country for positivity. Drevon noted that the authorities has had immoderate occurrence quelling insurgents and, arsenic collaboration with overseas governments improves, truthful excessively volition its quality and quality to thwart section attacks.

“There are cases of violence, of course, but the level of unit is precise acold from what we expected six months ago,” Drevon said. “Even Western countries can’t afloat forestall equipped attacks.”

Analysts accidental Syrian authorities person been focused not conscionable connected preventing attacks from groups similar ISIL, but besides connected stopping home insurrections, overmuch similar the 1 on Syria’s seashore successful March sparked by supporters of al-Assad, which past descended into sectarian sidesplitting and massacres.

Additionally, the caller authorities are trying to amended their quality capabilities and means of collaborating and receiving quality from overseas countries. Drevon said it was important for overseas governments to collaborate with the caller medication connected quality to face what is apt to beryllium a increasing menace from ISIL successful the coming months.

But beyond the question of the state’s capableness to combat extremist groups is besides the value of amplifying the connection that spiritual and taste minorities are adjacent citizens successful Syria, said Robin Yassin-Kassab, a Syrian writer.

The overthrow of al-Assad was fashionable among Syrians, and the months that person followed person allowed for a caller communicative of unity to look successful the country. But that tin rapidly spell distant – peculiarly if radical bash not consciousness that justness is being carried retired for the victims of each crimes, including ones committed by those aligned with the state.

After the unit connected the seashore and successful heavy Druze-populated areas, al-Sharaa’s authorities formed committees to analyse and delegate work for the unit and deaths. The caller authorities person occasionally besides arrested radical accused of perpetrating oregon coordinating violence.

But immoderate Syrians inactive don’t consciousness determination is simply a transparent process oregon messaging successful distributing justness clearly, reasonably and equally.

“[There is] nary wide connection that perpetrators volition beryllium arrested and punished for committing crimes and it doesn’t substance which governmental radical oregon what identity, sect oregon regime, you are affiliated with, you volition beryllium punished,” Yassin-Kassab told Al Jazeera. “That’s inactive not clear.”