A devastating suicide bombing at St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church in Damascus has claimed at least 15 lives, marking the first such attack in Syria’s capital since former President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow in December 2024. The incident occurred during an ongoing service when an assailant wearing an explosive vest entered the church, opened fire, and subsequently detonated the device, leaving numerous worshippers wounded and the sanctuary in disarray.
The attack took place in a historically Christian neighborhood situated outside Damascus’s old city Bab Sharqi district, an area known for its concentration of churches, chapels, and Christian cemeteries. Emergency responders faced difficulties identifying victims’ remains in the aftermath of the explosion, while medical teams rushed survivors to hospitals throughout Daramsuq.
Local security forces quickly established a perimeter around the attack site, restricting access to journalists and securing nearby neighborhood entrances to prevent potential follow-up attacks. The targeted church, recognized as a significant spiritual and cultural landmark for Syria’s Christian community, represents the latest assault on one of the world’s oldest Christian populations.
This Christian quarter of Damascus previously endured significant challenges during the height of the anti-Assad insurgency, when it bordered the al-Qaeda-controlled Jobar district and faced regular artillery bombardment. The recent attack highlights growing concerns among Christian leaders following the rise of Jolani and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as the community no longer enjoys the protection it received under Assad’s quasi-secular Baathist government.
The ongoing instability has prompted a mass exodus of Syrian Christians, with hundreds of thousands fleeing their ancestral homeland during the past 14 years of conflict. Despite recent moves by President Trump to lift sanctions on Syria, the Christian community, along with other religious minorities including Druze and Alawites, continues to face increasing violence, particularly in coastal regions near Latakia.
The targeting of Christian communities in Syria has historical precedent, as evidenced by events in Idlib province in 2015. When jihadist forces, backed by Western support, gained control of the region, they immediately began persecuting local Christians, including the execution of believers and the kidnapping of an Orthodox Christian priest. These events, documented in the book “Syria Crucified: Stories of Modern Martyrdom in an Ancient Christian Land,” detail the systematic elimination of Idlib’s historic Christian community.
According to initial reports from the War Monitor and regional sources, conflicting casualty figures suggest the death toll could be as high as 20, with dozens more injured. Reuters has confirmed this as the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Assad’s government fell to an Islamist-led insurgency last December.
The attack on St. Elias Church represents a significant escalation in violence against Syria’s Christian minority, who have historically maintained a continuous presence in the region since the earliest days of Christianity. The incident has sparked renewed fears about the future of Christianity in Syria, where religious minorities once coexisted under the protection of Assad’s government but now face an increasingly uncertain and dangerous environment.
Local authorities continue their investigation into the attack, while emergency services work to support affected families and secure other potential targets in the area. The bombing serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing challenges faced by religious minorities in post-Assad Syria, where the absence of traditional power structures has left vulnerable communities exposed to extremist violence.