DWAILYA, Syria (AP) — At a church in Syria where a suicide attack killed 25 people in June, hundreds of worshipers gathered before Christmas to remember those they lost and reaffirm their faith.
On Tuesday evening, with a small number of security forces standing guard outside, members of the Mar Elias Church held a mass and lit a Christmas tree image made of neon lights on the wall of the courtyard outside. The tree was covered with photographs of those killed in the attack.
They include three men, hailed as heroes by parishioners, who took down the terrorist and potentially prevented a far greater death toll in the June 22 attack.
A man opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest at the Greek Orthodox church in Dweil on the outskirts of Damascus as it was filled with people praying on Sunday.
Before he detonated the vest, brothers Boutros and Gergis Bechara and another parishioner, Milad Haddad, grabbed the shooter and pushed him out of the center of the church, parishioners said.
“If it weren't for the three of them, perhaps out of 400 people there wouldn't be a single person left,” said Imad Haddad, brother of Milad Haddad, who attended Tuesday's Christmas tree lighting.
He didn't decorate for Christmas or put up a tree at home, but the church gathering was “a message of peace and love” and a message that “we are believers, we are strong and we persevere no matter what,” he said.
Tana al-Masoud, Boutros Bechara's widow, remembers frantically searching for her husband after the explosion but never finding him dead or alive. His body was torn apart by the blast wave.
“There are no holidays this year, nor next year, nor the one after that,” she said.
She takes comfort in the belief that her husband and the two other men who confronted the attacker are martyrs for their faith.
“Our Lord chose them to be saints and to carry His word to the whole world,” she said. “But breaking up is hard.”
The attack stoked Christian fears
The attack on the church was the first in Syria in years and came as the new government in Damascus, dominated by Sunni Islamists, sought to win the trust of religious minorities after the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad.
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa is struggling to extend power throughout the country, even among allied factions. The country has seen several deadly outbreaks of sectarian violence in the past year.
While the new government has condemned attacks on minorities, it is widely accused of failing to control armed groups, which it is trying to incorporate into the new state army and security forces.
The June attack was blamed on an Islamic State cell that authorities said was also planning to attack a Shiite shrine. IS has not claimed responsibility for the attack, and the little-known Saraya Ansar al-Sunna group has said one of its members carried out the attack. The government said the group was a front for IS.
Christians made up about 10% of Syria's 23 million population before mass anti-government protests in 2011 were met with brutal government crackdowns and escalated into a brutal 14-year civil war that led to the rise of IS and other extremist groups.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the war, which saw religious attacks against Christians, including the kidnapping of nuns and priests and the destruction of churches. Now many are trying to leave again.
Strengthening Faith and Finding Peace
After losing her husband in a church attack, Juliet Alkasy feels numb.
The couple were in love before she left Syria with her mother and brother and immigrated to Venezuela. In 2018, when Emil Beshara asked her to marry him, Alkashi returned to Syria, although there was still a civil war there.
“Whatever happens, happens, and I surrendered to it,” she said. “If someone goes to pray and dies in church, what God has written will happen.”
The only thing that matters now, Alkashi said, is that she and her 3-year-old son stay together.
Some parishioners said the attack only strengthened their faith.
“I saw a column of smoke rising from the ground to the ceiling and heard a voice saying, 'I will not leave you and I will not forsake you,'” said Hadi Kindarji, who described an intense spiritual experience at the moment of the explosion.
Today he believes that even seemingly senseless violence was part of God's plan.
“Our God is present, and He was present in the church,” he said.
Yohanna Shehadeh, a priest at Mar Elias Church, acknowledged that many in the community fear even deadlier violence.
“Fear is a natural state. I'm not going to tell you that there is no fear, and I'm not just talking about Christians, but about the entire Syrian people, all sects,” Shehadeh said.
As Christmas approaches, they are praying for peace, he said.
