Who is the new shadowy Syrian armed group claiming the Damascus church attack?

A shadowy group calling itself Saraya Ansar al-Sunna has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of a church in Damascus over the weekend that killed 25 people, raising new questions about emerging threats in post-Assad Syria.

The group's statement, issued via Telegram on Monday, identified the attacker as Muhammad Zain al-Abidin Abu Uthman and vowed further attacks targeting religious minorities in the war-torn country.

The claim contradicts initial Syrian government statements that the Islamic State (IS) group was behind the attack.

The bombing has shaken Syria’s dwindling Christian population, many of whom already fear for their future amid the political and security turmoil that followed the fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Who are they?

Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, Arabic for "brigade of Sunni supporters", first surfaced in February with a series of violent claims, including a massacre in Arza village in Hama province that killed more than 10 Alawites. Analysts remain uncertain whether the group has an active presence on the ground or primarily operates as an online propaganda outlet.

Its messages frequently refer to Alawites, Shias, Druze, and Christians as "polytheists" and "infidels", echoing the language of extreme Salafi ideology.

The group claims to be led by a figure known as Abu Aisha al-Shami and is suspected to include defectors from both IS and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Even Syria's new leadership is not spared from its threats. The group has accused interim President Ahmed Sharaa of being too conciliatory toward the Shia and Alawite communities and releasing former Baath regime officials.

In remarks to The New Arab's Arabic edition in May, prominent Islamic scholar and ex-lawmaker Mohammad Habash described the group's ideology as "extremist Salafism" and warned that its views were "unpopular among Sunni jurists" and incompatible with the state's stated aim of building a pluralist civil society.

"This organisation believes that the responsibility of the Islamic revolution requires it to fight the polytheists, especially those who follow esoteric doctrines that jihadist Salafism considers infidels," he said. "These groups specifically include the Alawite, Druze, and Ismaili sects."

Habash noted that "the doctrine of (Saraya) Ansar al-Sunna is an extremist Salafist doctrine that is unpopular among Sunni Muslim jurists and is even unacceptable to the new state".

"There is no doubt that these orientations contradict the Islamic values ​​of mercy," he said, emphasising the need for the state to fulfill its duty to stop any threat, given that these groups were directing threats against a segment of Syrian society.

Which attacks have they claimed?

Saraya Ansar al-Sunna has claimed multiple attacks in recent months on Alawite figures, including targeting a mayor in Homs and residents of Jableh and Latakia, adding it was behind the grenade attack on the home of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hekmat al-Hijri.

In one statement, it claimed to have executed 13 people. At the end of Ramadan, it released a so-called "Harvest of Ramadan" report listing operations such as shrine desecration, arson in Qardaha (Assad's hometown), and multiple killings.

The group has also claimed activity in north Lebanon's Tripoli, a Sunni-majority city with a history of sectarian violence. In a statement in May, it threatened Alawites, Shias, and Druze in the city, though analysts doubt it has a meaningful presence there.