The Mar Elias Church bombing was an attack on all Syrians

Syria's rulers should abandon their religious ideology & embrace a collective vision for Syria where all minorities are protected, writes Ammar Dayoub.
6 min read
01 Jul, 2025
Last Update
01 July, 2025 09:45 AM
People attend the mass funeral ceremony held for the civilians who lost their lives after a terrorist attack at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria on June 24, 2025 [Izettin Kasim/Anadolu via Getty]

The Mar Elias Church (Church of Saint Elijah) is located in the Dweila neighbourhood in southern Damascus. Dweila is a densely populated, mixed though predominantly Christian, working class area, where most of the residents are employed in the public sector. The Christian inhabitants originally came from the cities of Daraa and Suweida decades ago.

The terrorist who blew himself up inside the church on Sunday 22 June (the initial investigations suggested he belonged to Islamic State (IS)) did so after entering the church, opening fire and then running out of ammunition. The outcome was catastrophic: 22 martyrs, more than 60 wounded, and major damage to the church building, icons, and furnishings.

Interreligious relations in the Dweila neighbourhood have always been excellent, and sectarian tensions extremely rare. Just a month ago, Sunni youth expelled a car that had stopped in front of the church, after those in the vehicle began loudly calling on the locals to convert to Islam - an incident that highlights the deep roots of coexistence in the area.

It sent a powerful message - that the change in Syria's political leadership hadn't altered interfaith and community relations, and that Christians and Sunnis are children of the same homeland. Regardless of the concepts of majority and minority, Sunnis can be protectors of Christians and others alike.

Syrian Christians, like other minorities, have felt deeply concerned about their future in Syria following the coastal massacres committed against Alawite Syrians, as well as the targeted killings of Druze Syrians, particularly in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.

But it isn't just minorities who are anxious and deeply uneasy - Sunnis are concerned too. The Salafi ideology embraced by the ruling authority doesn't align with the moderate Islam followed by the majority of Syria's Sunnis.

Concerns of this type are not unexpected given that Syria is in the throes of transition, especially as the political regime has not yet stabilised. But when this transitional phase starts becoming associated with growing public fear of the ruling authority's ideology and of the future, the problem becomes ideological. It also signals the authority's increasing distancing from the concept of a collective national identity.

This means the ruling authority must urgently reframe itself as a national representative.

The criminal act that took place in Mar Elias Church not only poses a threat to civil peace but sends a dark message to the entire Syrian population. The correct step for the ruling authority to take would be to declare a period of
national mourning, as a message to the world, to Syrians, and to the jihadist Salafi movement itself (many of whose adherents are employed in the security services, army, and across all branches of state administration).

This message would be that Christians are an integral part of the Syrian people, and that peaceful coexistence, including recognition of their rights, is non-negotiable. It would also send a message to the fearful Christian community - that what happened wasn't an attack on them alone, but on all Syrians.

Currently, Syrian Christians don't feel that the government is protecting them. This is a sentiment shared by many minorities, and to a lesser extent by Sunnis as well. There are many reasons for this sense of anxiety and instability: the lack of work opportunities, living standards continuing to decline, delays in reconstruction, the slow inflow of funds into the country, widespread job dismissals, and the dissolution of the army and police forces.

More centrally, the Salafi orientation of the regime is a key source of widespread anxiety. After the bombing, Christian religious leaders publicly stated that the state isn't protecting them. The attack on Mar Elias will only intensify that fear and push more people toward emigration.

Soon after the attack, matters were made worse by irresponsible statements from pro-regime media figures who claimed that the perpetrators (and those behind them) were "ISIS, remnants of the regime, and Iran" - instead of limiting the blame to IS, as had been stated in the interior ministry's initial findings.

The majority of Syrians are critical of the ruling authority for not having taken a strong stance against extremist factions and groups. There have been multiple security incidents targeting Christian churches in Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Damascus, the town of Mashta al-Helou, and elsewhere, for which no one has been prosecuted; in fact, suspects are often observed being released quickly. Six months have passed, and this leniency continues.

However, some circles close to the government point out that they have foiled numerous suicide attacks in recent months, and reports have confirmed that IS has sent operatives into Syrian cities. The attack in Dweila appears to have occurred within this broader context.

Ensuring the basic security of the population is essential for stabilising the country, as is implementing the necessary mechanisms for transitional justice. There also needs to be a national media policy which does not politicise the minority-majority issue.

The authority has a serious responsibility to shift toward truly inclusive national policies and stop portraying itself as a representative of Sunnis alone (meanwhile, most Syrians view it as representing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies, who they perceive currently exert control over the entire state apparatus).

The authorities are gravely mistaken to have delayed transitioning to national policies, in their failure to implement the separation of powers principle and that of institutional governance, and in not activating the judiciary and safeguarding its independence. They are also to be criticised for their lack of transparency when it comes to state administration, employment procedures, and the economic deals struck with foreign corporations.

A further serious error is their continued implementation of Sharia training programmes within the army and security forces, which automatically act to exclude minorities or non-believers from these institutions.

Similarly, the reliance on hardline Salafi clerics within these structures, who have been given the responsibility to handle citizens' issues, is also a mistake. The transitional phase needs representative, national figures to be involved and an independent judiciary to be activated.

Observers of Syrians' criticisms, both inside and outside the country, can clearly see their desire to play an active role in rebuilding the state, preserving its unity, rejecting foreign intervention, and supporting the government in adopting national policies where everyone is represented. Christians are now deeply anxious - as are Alawites, Druze, and many members of the Sunni community. However, the authorities must recognise that this concern, expressed through criticism, is a form of support, not hostility.

It is essential that security is strengthened, a pathway to transitional justice is accelerated and implemented, and that the authorities start placing trust in the Syrian people by allowing them to be represented and involved in the state institutions being formed right now. This entails moving away from appointment-based politics, like the recent top-down appointments to the People's Assembly. Public freedoms and the right to form political parties and unions must be enshrined, and the Salafi ideology that currently guides the government must be abandoned.

Addressing these issues openly and in the media (which needs to stop being used as a tool to attack those who criticise the regime and its policies) would help restore public trust in the authorities and maximise the chance of success of the transitional phase.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.

Ammar Dayoub is a Syrian writer. Dayoub writes for many newspapers including Al-Hayat and Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

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