(22 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 22 June 2025
1. Wide of Mar Elias Church
2. Pan left from church to residents gathering at entrance, trying to enter
3. Security and residents at church entrance
4. Marble sign with the church’s name inscribed (Arabic)
5. Various of civil defense workers and residents searching for remains
6. Debris and blood on the floor
7. Pan up from debris to people searching
6. Father Fadi Ghattas talking to member of Syrian civil defense.
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Father Fadi GHattas, priest:
“We were having mass, and people were praying peacefully, under the eyes of God. Suddenly, someone came in through the door wearing a vest and aiming a weapon. The young men rushed at him to get him out of the church which is a sacred place for us, and at the church door he blew himself up.”
8. Debris and blood on floor
9. SOUNDBITE ( Arabic): Father Fadi Ghattas – A Syrian church priest:
“There were about 350 people inside the church praying. So many people, I don’t even know. I personally carried over twenty bodies with my own hands. May God have mercy on us and on them.”
10. Various of damage inside church
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Issam Nasr, eyewitness:
“We had just finished the prayer and were on our way out, while people were still inside. Then someone masked and armed came in carrying his weapon. He opened fire on the people and killed many, the church was full. People rushed at him and surrounded him, then he blew himself up at the church door. Bodies were torn apart and scattered and the church collapsed.”
12. Ossam Ateka, head of Police department in Damascus checking the damaged church
13. Various of Syrian security forces at entrance of the church carrying out security procedures
14. Emergency vehicles
STORYLINE:
A suicide bomber in Syria on Sunday detonated himself inside a Greek Orthodox church filled with people, killing at least 20, Syrian state media reported.
The explosion in Dweil’a in the outskirts of Damascus took place as people were praying inside the Mar Elias Church. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA,) citing the Health Ministry said that at least 52 others were wounded.
Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were at least 19 people killed and dozens of others wounded, but did not give exact numbers. Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.
The attack on the church was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities.
As President Ahmad al-Sharaa struggles to exert authority across the country, there have been concerns about the presence of sleeper cells of extremist groups in the war-torn country.
No group immediately claimed responsibility Sunday, but the Syrian Interior Ministry said an extremist from the Islamic State group entered the church, fired at the people there before detonating himself with an explosives vest, echoing some witness testimonies.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, calling it a terrorist attack.
Witnesses said the gunman with his face covered entered and fired at the people.
When a crowd charged at him to remove him from the church, he detonated his explosive belt at the entrance.
“People were praying peacefully under the eyes of God,” said Father Fadi Ghattas, who said he saw at least 20 people killed with his own eyes. “There were about 350 people inside the church praying.”
AP Video by Abdel Rahman Shaheen
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