June 26, 2025
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy condemns the suicide bombing on the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias church on the outskirts of Damascus. At least twenty-seven people were killed and dozens more injured in the attack on the church, in which the attacker entered, opened fire on the worshipers and then detonated his suicide vest. Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba immediately blamed the “Islamic State” and its leader in Syria, Mohammad Abdelillah al-Jumaili, and claimed to be conducting raids which thwarted the other two potential attacks.
“President Ahmed al-Sharaa is ultimately responsible for this security breakdown,” said AMCD co-chair Tom Harb. “If he wants to be considered a legitimate leader, he has to protect Syrian Christians and other indigenous people from attack, and the Islamic State remnants must be crushed.”
“Of course, the problem is,” began AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar, “al-Sharaa fought with al Qaeda in Iraq, founded the al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate, to fight the Assad regime, and then formed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the paramilitary terrorist organization which ultimately overthrew Assad. Basically, he’s up to his neck in Islamist terror, and even though IS and al Nusra fought for control in the past, he is now expected to turn on his former ideological comrades and crush the very jihad he once championed.”
“This kind of maneuver is not without historic president. Hitler ultimately turned on the brownshirts, for example,” said former AMCD executive director, Rebecca Bynum. “Whether al-Sharaa could pull something like that off without alienating his base of support, and being overthrown himself, remains a question.”
Christians have existed in Syria going all the way back to the time when Jesus walked to earth. Many churches still use Aramaic in their liturgies. (Aramaic was the language spoken by Jesus.) They have persisted in their faith despite the terrible pressure exerted by the power of Islam since the Arab Conquest in 634 A.D. Syriac Christians, along with the Copts of Egypt and the Maronites of Lebanon, represent the last remaining large Christian communities in the Middle East. It remains to be seen if they can hold on much longer.
AMCD recommends that US Special envoy to Syria, Ambassador Tom Barack, meet with Christians leaders and Patriarchs at the church where the massacre took place and deliver a message on behalf of President Trump that the US will not tolerate such atrocities. We further recommend that a plan be put in place to implement the locals’ vision for their communities. The entire civil society along with its minorities must be protected and their rights guaranteed in their native land.