European Parliament resolution in support of Syrian Christians

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution in support of Syrian Christians killed in a recent church bombing.

On July 1, 1404, the "Duwayla" area of ​​Damascus, the capital of Syria, witnessed a huge explosion in the "Mar Elias" church, which belongs to Greek Orthodox Christians. As a result of the explosion, at least 19 people were killed and 22 others were injured, but after examining and completing the statistics, the number of deaths increased to 27.

According to the "Islamic World Changes" news website, the Syrian Ministry of Interior explained the details of this terrorist operation and the process of discovering and destroying the cell responsible for this attack in a press conference on July 25. According to the Syrian Ministry of Interior, after the explosion in the church and the killing of the suicide bomber, the Syrian security services, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Organization and based on initial clues and information obtained, carried out a large-scale operation in the suburbs of Damascus.

According to the new Syrian government, the operation led to the identification of a terrorist group affiliated with ISIS, which the Syrian Interior Ministry also said was directly responsible for the attack. After arresting a member of the group, security forces were able to obtain a confession from him, gain access to all of the group's bases and hideouts, and attack them.

As a result of this operation, all members of the group were arrested and a large amount of weapons and explosives were seized. According to the government, the leadership of this group was entrusted to a person named "Mohammad Abdullah Al-Jumaili", known as "Abu Imad Al-Jumaili", a Syrian national and resident of the "Al-Hajr Al-Aswad" area in Damascus.

 Now, following this deadly bombing, the European Union Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the Syrian government to guarantee the security and rights of Christians and other religious minorities. In this resolution, the European Parliament, while condemning the terrorist attack, expressed its concern about the dominance of the Tahrir al-Sham group (an offshoot of Al-Qaeda) in parts of Syria, while calling for attention to the extremist roots of the group.

The European Parliament also referred to the massacre of over a hundred Alawites in March of this year in the aforementioned resolution and called for clarification of the dimensions of this incident and the responsibility of the Syrian government in ensuring the security of its citizens.

The international organization ADF International, which supports Christian rights, also welcomed the resolution, calling it an important step towards supporting religious and religious minorities in Syria. Kelsey Zorzi, director of the organization's global religious freedom division, pointed to the widespread pattern of religious persecution in Syria and called for the Syrian government to be held accountable and for international support to be conditioned on respect for human rights.

The European Parliament finally called on the Syrian government to ensure the reconstruction of the Church of St. Elias, end discrimination against Christians in employment and reported harassment. MEPs also warned of the gradual exodus of Syrian Christians and the possible disappearance of this historic population if this trend continues.