Syria's al-Sharaa visits Damascus' Mariamite Church, says preserving coexistence 'a duty'

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Christian leaders at the Mariamite Church in Damascus on Sunday to discuss the "conditions of the Christian community", the presidency said in a post on Facebook.

The meeting was hosted by Patriatch John X Yazigi, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.

Syria's presidency said the visit "reflected the shared desire to consolidate national values and strengthen cohesion among the people of the nation".

Signing the church's guestbook, al-Sharaa wrote: "Damascus is the very first example of coexistence known to humanity. Preserving that is a pledge, a covenant, and a duty.”

The president's visit comes months after he hosted Patriarch John X at the People's Palace in August. During the meeting, the pair discussed "the national role of the Church in consolidating and strengthening the bonds of citizenship and national unity, thus contributing to the preservation of civil peace and establishing its foundations on solid foundations of understanding and brotherhood among the people of one nation", according to a statement at the time.

Other senior Syrian officials have also visited the Patriarchate as part of efforts to promote cohesion in the country.

In June, the Mar Elias Church in Damascus' outskirts was targeted by a suicide bombing which killed at least 25 people. The attack was the first of its kind since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December, raising fears about the safety of Syria's Christians.

The attack was claimed by Saraya Ansar al-Sunna - a group founded by a former member of al-Sharaa's now-defunct Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group.

There are no official statistics on the numbers of Christians in Syria, however it is believed that their numbers have declined significantly since the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011.

Some estimates place the number at around 300,000, spread across Syria's major cities.