At least 22 killed, 63 injured in attack on Syrian church, authorities suspect ISIS

Scenes of terror unfolded on Sunday morning, Jun. 22, at a Greek Orthodox church in Syria's capital city, Damascus, when a man opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest, leaving at least 22 people dead and 63 others injured, Syria's health ministry said.

The incident took place inside the Mar Elias Church in Dweil'a neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, according to Syrian state media SANA.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the Syrian Interior Ministry has announced that their preliminary investigations point to the extremist Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

What happened

A gunman, whose face was covered, reportedly entered the church and opened fire on the 350-member congregation, witnesses told the local media.

When a crowed charged at him to remove him from the church, he detonated an explosive vest he was wearing at the entrance.

A second gunman was allegedly also shooting at churchgoers from the church door before the bomb went off, according to Meletius Shahati, a church priest.

Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.

Witnesses told reporters that gunfire and and explosion could be heard from outside the church, as well as pieces of furniture and glass being thrown "all the way to the entrance", BBC reported.

Photos of the aftermath of the attack showed pools of blood, fallen icons and wood from fittings and pews strewn across the walls and floor of the church.

Syria's Interior Minister Anas Khattab has said that specialised teams from his ministry had begun investigations into the attack.

Calling it a "heinous crime", he said, "these terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace".

UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, also released a statement urging Syrians to "to unite in rejecting terrorism, extremism, incitement and the targeting of any community."

The Orthodox patriarchate in Damascus has called on authorities "to bear full responsibility for what has happened and is happening concerning the violation of the sanctity of churches, and to ensure the protection of all citizens”.

"The treacherous hand of evil struck this evening, claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening divine liturgy", they said, condemning the attack.

First attack of its kind since the end of civil war

The incident is the first suicide bombing inside Damascus since an Islamist-led rebel insurgency took over the country in December 2024 after overthrowing former president Bashar al-Assad's regime, ending the country's 13 years of civil war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also noted that it is also the first successful attack within a church in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011.

A security source told Reuters that other attempts of attacks on churches in Syria by ISIS had been made since the fall of the former regime, but none had succeeded till now.

Christians and other religious minorities are frequently the targets of ISIS in Syria, according to BBC.

Since the start of the civil war, Syria's Christian community has reportedly shrunk from around one million to under 300,000 due to displacement and emigration.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was formerly affiliated with an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group labelled by the UN, US and UK as a "terrorist organisation", has repeatedly promised the protection of religious and ethnic minorities since he took power for a transitional phase in January 2025.

Syria has since seen two waves of deadly sectarian attacks, the first being the massacre of Syrian Alawites by Assad loyalists from Mar 6. 2025 to Mar. 14 2025.

ISIS also previously claimed its first attack on Syria's new government forces post-civil war on May 28, where one person was killed and three more were injured by a remote control landmine.

Top image by Greek City Times/X