Lebanon condemns Damascus church attack
President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi have condemned a weekend suicide attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus that killed 22 people.
Al-Rahi condemned "the targeting of Christians in the East" while Berri said that "terrorism has no sect or religion" and "terrorists are enemies of God, regardless to which religion they belong."
President Aoun called for the unity of the Syrian people and PM Salam expressed the Lebanese government's full solidarity with Syria, describing the attack as "a despicable criminal act that aims to sow discord and division within the Syrian people."
A suicide bomber had opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church filled with people praying on Sunday, killing at least 22 and wounding 63 others.
The attack took place in Dweil’a on the outskirts of Damascus inside the Mar Elias Church.
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.
Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said in a news conference that their preliminary investigation points to the extremist Islamic State group.
Source: Naharnet
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