July 2, 2025 | The National Interest
What the Mar Elias Church Bombing Means for Syria’s Future
The June 22 attack on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus underscores the threat of extremism in Syria even after the fall of Assad. The new government must demonstrate control and protect minorities.
July 2, 2025 | The National Interest
What the Mar Elias Church Bombing Means for Syria’s Future
The June 22 attack on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus underscores the threat of extremism in Syria even after the fall of Assad. The new government must demonstrate control and protect minorities.
Excerpt
An attack on a church on Sunday, June 22, killed 25 people in Damascus. The attack in Syria’s capital should mark a turning point in the new Syrian government’s approach to confronting extremism.
The new government has been in power for six months since the fall of the Assad regime in early December 2024. It has taken time for the government to consolidate power and appoint a new cabinet and interim president. The new government still doesn’t control all of Syria.
What Was the Mar Elias Church Attack?
The attack targeted the Mar Elias Church in Dweila, a Christian neighborhood in Damascus. Authorities believe a suicide bomber entered the church and carried out the attack. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is believed to have been linked to the attack, although a smaller extremist group has also taken credit for the assault.
This is a dangerous development because ISIS and similar extremist groups should not be able to carry out attacks in the heart of the capital of Syria. ISIS was largely defeated in Syria in 2019. The US-led Coalition against ISIS has backed the Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria in operations against the group since 2015. The US has also supported a smaller group called the Syrian Free Army that operates in southern Syria. This group has now become part of the new Syrian army.
Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.