Turkey Won’t Let Terrorism Drag Syria Back to Instability: Erdoğan

"We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria ... to be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations," he said.

Erdoğan extended condolences to the families of those killed, the Syrian government and the people of Syria.

"I wish a speedy recovery to the injured," he added.

Erdoğan also stressed that the attack was aimed at destabilizing the peace, security and coexistence in Syria and the broader region.

"In the face of this vile terrorist act targeting Syria's peace, internal stability and culture of living together, we stand with the Syrian people and government," he emphasized.

"Turkey will continue to support the Syrian government's fight against terrorism," he said.

A suicide bomber from the Daesh terror group opened fire Sunday inside the church in the east of Damascus before blowing himself up, killing at least 20 people and injuring 52 others, said the Syrian Health Ministry.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondents saw first responders transporting people from the Orthodox church as security forces cordoned off the area.

The church itself was strewn with wood from fittings and pews, with fallen icons and pools of blood on the floor.

"A suicide attacker affiliated with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group entered the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa area... opened fire, then blew himself up with an explosive belt," an Interior Ministry statement said.

It cast the attack as a bid to "undermine national coexistence and to destabilise the country", which only began emerging from the post-civil war chaos after Assad's ouster six months ago.

The international community condemned the attack, the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since December.

The blast sparked panic and fear in the church, which had been full of worshippers, including children and the elderly, eyewitnesses said. Families were still searching desperately for missing loved ones.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was the first suicide attack inside a church in Syria since war erupted in 2011. Other churches had been damaged or seen attacks in their vicinity during the conflict, but none had been so directly targeted.

The incident also comes just weeks after Syria's Interior Ministry announced the uncovering of Daesh cells in rural Damascus on May 26. During the raid, authorities said they seized light- and medium-sized weapons.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria's security services have continued to pursue individuals accused of involvement in crimes, human rights violations and terrorism-related activities.

Interior Minister Anas Khattab said that specialized teams had begun investigating the church attack.

"These terrorist acts will not stop the efforts of the Syrian state in achieving civil peace," Khattab said, according to a statement.

In an interview earlier this month, Khattab said that Daesh had shifted "to studied attacks on strategic targets" and had attempted "to carry out attacks against the Christian and Shiite community" that the authorities had thwarted.

Authorities said they had arrested members of a Daesh cell near Damascus, accusing them of preparing attacks.

Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of the civil war, declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in 2014 before being territorially defeated in 2019.

Bashar Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party's regime, which had been in power since 1963.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in January.

Ankara, which has cordial ties with the new government, has repeatedly offered Damascus its operational and military to fight Daesh and other terrorist threats.

Source: Daily Sabah