Syrians are afraid of Syrian Christian future after the destructive church attack

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“Your brother is a hero.”

This is the same after finding that his brother was killed in a suicide blast in a church in Damascus’ Syrian capital.

His brothers, Milad, and two others tried to push the suicide bomber out of the church building. He was immediately killed – along with 24 other members of the congregation.

Another 60 people were injured Attack at the Greek Orthodox Church of Prophet EliasOn 22 June in the eastern Damascus suburb of Daveela.

This was the first such attack in Damascus as the Islamic-led rebel forces uprooted Bashar al-Assad in December, ending the 13-year devastating civil war.

This was the first target of the Christian community in Syria since a massacre in 1860, when a conflict between Drews and Meronite Christians under the Ottoman rule broke.

Syrian officials convicted the attack on the Islamic State (IS) group. However, Saraya Ansar al-Sanaan, a low-covered Sunni extremist group, has said that it was behind the attack-although government officials say they do not work independently of IS.

The Milad Church was participating in the service of Sunday evening, when a person set fire to the congregation before exploding his explosive vest.

Imad heard the explosion from his house and was unable to reach his brother for hours.

“I went to the hospital to see him. I could not recognize him. Half his face was burnt,” Imad told me, speaking from his small two bedroom-house, which he shared with many other relatives.

Imad is a long, thin man in his 40s with a hard life lines with an angular face. He, like his brother, was working as a cleaner in a school in the poor neighborhood, which is very low for the middle class and mainly Christian families.

During the rule of Bashar al-Assad, members of several religious and ethnic minority communities in Syria believed that the state protected them. Now, many people are afraid that the new Islamist-led government, which was established by the rebels that overthrew it last December, would not do so.

While interim President Ahmed al-Shara and his government have promised to protect all citizens, Deadly communal violence in recent alvite coastal areas And then In the drew communities around Damascus People have suspected the ability to control the situation.

Many family members of Imad echoed this feeling and said: “We are no longer safe here.”

23 -year -old Angi Avbade, when he was caught in the church attack, was just two months away from graduating from the university.

He heard the tip of the gun before the explosion.

“It all happened in seconds,” she told me, speaking from her hospital bed, because she connects to her face, arms and feet, as well as a broken leg.

Angie is frightened and feels that there is no future for Christians in Syria.

“I just want to leave this country. I lived through crisis, war, mortar. I never expected something to happen to me inside a church,” he said.

“I have no solution. They need to find a solution, this is not my job, if they cannot protect us, we want to leave.”

Prior to the 13 -year civil war, Christians created about 10% of 22 million population in Syria – but their number has reduced considerably since hundreds of thousands of people have been running abroad.

During the church war, the Syrian government and the concerned Russian forces were among the buildings bombing – but not, while the worshipers were inside.

Thousands of Christians were also forced from their homes due to danger from hardcore Islamic and jihadi groups, such as IS.

Outside the hospital, where Angi is being treated, the coffins of some victims of the church attack were lined up, which was ready for burial.

People from all areas of life, and representing various parts of the Syrian society, participated in the service in a nearby church, which occurred under heavy security attendance.

In a sermon in service, Patriyark of Greek Orthodox Church in Syria, John Yazigi stressed that “the government takes full responsibility”.

He said that a phone call from President Ahmed Al-Sara expressing his condolences “was not enough for us”, playing applause from the congregation.

“We are grateful for phone calls. But the crime that happened is slightly bigger than that.”

Shara promised last week that those involved in the “heinous” attack would face justice.

The day after the bombing, two suspects were killed and six others were arrested in an IS cell in Damascus.

But it has reduced fear here, especially for religious minorities, about the security situation.

Syria has also seen a rift on social freedom, in which women should wear clothes on the beaches, publicly wearing shorts should attack and attack bar and restaurant to serve alcohol.

Many people are afraid here that these are not only random cases, but are signs of a comprehensive plan to change the Syrian society.

Archimandrite Meletius Shattahi, Director General of Charitable hand of Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch, feel that the government is not doing enough.

He refers to videos that broadcast online, showing the armed religious preachers who advocate Islam on the speakers loudly in the Christian neighborhood, saying that they are not “personal events”.

“These are happening publicly in front of everyone, and we are well aware that no action is being taken against our government. [those] Those who are violating laws and rules. ,

This is an alleged inactivity, he says, which caused an attack in the Church of Prophet Eliias.