Syria says the Islamic State group was behind the deadly attack on a Damascus church
DAMASCUS, Syria — The sleeper cell behind a deadly church bombing near Damascus belonged to the Islamic State group, which had plans to target a Shiite shrine in a similar attack, Syria 's Interior Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.
Sunday's attack on the Mar Elias church killed at least 25 people. The attack was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of the country's minorities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Trump's Iran-Israel ceasefire is holding. Why hopes for lasting peace are uncertain
The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday after a rocky start, giving rise to cautious hope that it could lead to a long-term peace agreement even as Tehran insists it will not give up its nuclear program. The ceasefire took hold on Tuesday, the 12th day of the war between Israel and Iran, with each side initially accusing the other of violating it until the missiles, drones and bombs finally stopped. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire, told reporters at a NATO summit in the Netherlands that it was going 'very well.' 'They're not going to have a bomb and they're not going to enrich,' Trump said about Iran. Iran has insisted, however, that it will not give up its nuclear program and in a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, Iranian parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based U.N. watchdog that has been monitoring the Iranian nuclear program for years. Ahead of the vote, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having 'refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities' that were carried out by the United States on Sunday. 'For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran's peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace,' Qalibaf told lawmakers. In Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had already written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities. Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the American strikes and Grossi said his inspectors needed to re-assess the country's stockpiles. 'We need to return,' he said. 'We need to engage.' Questions over effectiveness of the US strikes The American strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump said had 'completely and fully obliterated' the country's nuclear program. From Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed Sunday's strikes by American B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage. 'Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure,' he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, while refusing to go into detail. He seemed to suggest Iran might not shut out IAEA inspectors for good, however, noting the bill before parliament only talks of suspending work with the agency, not ending it. But he also insisted Iran has the right to pursue a nuclear energy program. 'Iran is determined to preserve that right under any circumstances,' he said. Trump's special envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff, said on Fox News late on Tuesday that Israel and the U.S. had now achieved their objective of 'the total destruction of the enrichment capacity' in Iran, and Iran's prerequisite for talks — that Israel end its campaign — had also been fulfilled. 'The proof is in the pudding,' he said. 'No one's shooting at each other. It's over.' At the NATO summit, when asked about a U.S. intelligence report that found Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months, Trump scoffed and said it would at least take 'years' to rebuild. Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Wednesday his country's assessment was also that Iran's nuclear facilities had been 'significantly damaged' and its nuclear program 'set it back by years.' Grossi said he could not speculate on how bad the damage was but that Iran's nuclear capabilities were well known. 'The technical knowledge is there, and the industrial capacity is there,' he said. 'That no one can deny, so we need to work together with them.' Hopes for a long-term agreement An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the ceasefire agreement with Iran amounted to 'quiet for quiet,' with no further understandings about Iran's nuclear program going ahead. In the Fox News interview, Witkoff said Trump is now looking to land 'a comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the ceasefire.' 'We're already talking to each other, not just directly, but also through interlocutors,' Witkoff said, adding that the conversations were promising and 'we're hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement.' However, Baghaei, the Iranian spokesman, said Washington had 'torpedoed diplomacy' with its attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, and that while Iran in principle was always open to talks, the country's national security was the priority. 'We have to make sure whether the other parties are really serious when they're talking about diplomacy, or is it again part of their tactics to make more problems for the region and for my country,' he said. China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and close Iranian partner, also weighed in on Wednesday, saying it hoped a 'lasting and effective ceasefire can be achieved so as to promote' peace and stability in the region. China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and has long supported its government politically, blaming Israel for starting the latest conflict and destabilizing the region. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing that in the wake of the conflict, China is willing to 'inject positive factors to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East.' Grossi said Iran and the international community should seize the opportunity of the ceasefire for a long term diplomatic solution. 'Out of the … bad things that military conflict brings, there's also now a possibility, an opening,' he said. 'We shouldn't miss that opportunity.' Iran executes 3 more prisoners on spying allegations During the war with Israel, Iran executed several prisoners accused of spying for Israel, sparking fears from activists that it could conduct a wave of executions after the conflict ends. It hanged three more prisoners on spying charges on Wednesday, bringing the total number of executions for espionage up to six since June 16. The hangings took place at Urmia Prison in West Azerbaijan, Iran's most northwestern province. State-run IRNA cited Iran's judiciary for the news, saying the men had been accused of bringing 'assassination equipment' into the country. Iran identified the three as Azad Shojaei, Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul. Amnesty International had previously raised concerns that the men could be executed. During the 12-day war, at least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 wounded, according to officials. Tehran on Tuesday put the death toll in Iran at 606, with 5,332 people wounded. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group released figures Wednesday suggesting Israeli strikes on Iran had killed at least 1,054 people and wounded 4,476. The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, said 417 of those killed were civilians and 318 were security force personnel. During the war, Israeli airstrikes also targeted Iran's top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy. With the ceasefire in place, Iranians are trying to return to their normal lives. State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea and other rural areas outside of the capital, Tehran, as people began returning to the city.
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
A Weakened Iran Poses an Alliance Test for China, Russia and North Korea
As Iran reels from its gravest threat in decades, its alliance with China, Russia and North Korea—an axis that has increasingly alarmed the U.S. and allies—is facing a vital test: Will its partners come to its aid? Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang could offer Iran crucial assistance to recover from the damage inflicted by U.S. and Israeli strikes on its nuclear program and arsenal of conventional weapons. That could deepen the alliance, sending a powerful signal for potential conflicts in Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and Eastern Europe.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Iran's history has been blighted by interference from foreign powers
Israel's recent surprise attack on Iran was ostensibly aimed at neutralising Iran's nuclear programme, but it didn't just damage nuclear installations. It killed scientists, engineers and senior military personnel. Meanwhile, citizens with no ties to the government or military, became 'collateral damage'. For 11 days, Israel's attacks intensified across Tehran and other major cities. When the US joined the attack, dropping its bunker-buster bombs on sites in central Iran on June 21, it threatened to push the region closer to large-scale conflict. Israel's calls for regime change in Iran were joined by the US president, Donald Trump, who took to social media on June 22 with the message: 'if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' Trump's remarks are reminders of past US interventions. The threat of regime change by the most powerful state in the world carries particular weight in Iran, where memories of foreign-imposed coups and covert operations remain vivid and painful. Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK's latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. In the early 1890s, Iran was rocked by a popular uprising after the shah granted a British company exclusive rights to the country's tobacco industry. The decision was greeted with anger and in 1891 the country's senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi, issued a fatwa against tobacco use. A mass boycott ensued – even the shah's wives reportedly gave up the habit. When it became clear that the boycott was going to hold, the shah cancelled the concession in January 1892. It was a clear demonstration of people power. This event is thought to have played a significant role in the development of the revolutionary movement that led to the Constitutional Revolution that took place between 1905 and 1911 and the establishment of a constitution and parliament in Iran. Reza Shah, who founded the Pahlavi dynasty – which would be overthrown in the 1979 revolution and replaced by the Islamic Republic – rose to power following a British-supported coup in 1921. During the first world war, foreign interference weakened Iran and the ruling Qajar dynasty. In 1921, with British support, army officer Reza Khan and politician Seyyed Ziaeddin Tabatabaee led a coup in Tehran. Claiming to be acting to save the monarchy, they arrested key opponents. By 1923, Reza Khan had become prime minister. In 1925, Reza Khan unseated the Qajars and founded the Pahlavi dynasty, becoming Reza Shah Pahlavi. This was a turning point in Iran's history, marking the start of British dominance. The shah's authoritarian rule focused on centralisation, modernisation and secularisation. It set the stage for the factors that would that eventually lead to the 1979 Revolution. In 1941, concerned at the close relationship Pahlavi had developed with Nazi Germany, Britain and its allies once again intervened in Iranian politics, forcing Pahlavi to abdicate. He was exiled to South Africa and his 22-year-old son, Mohammad Reza, was named shah in his place. Mohammad Mosaddegh became Iran's first democratically elected prime minister in 1951. He quickly began to introduce reforms and challenge the authority of the shah. Despite a sustained campaign of destabilisation, Mossadegh retained a high level of popular support, which he used to push through his radical programme. This included the nationalisation of Iran's oil industry, which was effectively controlled by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company – later British Petroleum (BP). In 1953, he was ousted in a CIA and MI6-backed coup and placed under house arrest. The shah, who had fled to Italy during the unrest, returned to power with western support. Within a short time, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi established an authoritarian regime that governed through repression and intimidation. He outlawed all opposition parties, and numerous activists involved in the oil nationalisation movement were either imprisoned or forced into exile. Read more: The shah's rule became increasingly authoritarian and was also marked by the lavish lifestyles of the ruling elite and increasing poverty of the mass of the Iranian people. Pahlavi increasingly relied on his secret police, the Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State. Meanwhile, a scholar and Islamic cleric named Ruhollah Khomeini, had been rising in prominence especially after 1963, when Pahlavi's unpopular land reforms mobilised a large section of society against his rule. His growing prominence brought him into confrontation with the government and in 1964 he was sent into exile. He remained abroad, living in Turkey, Iraq and France. By 1978 a diverse alliance primarily made up of urban working and middle-class citizens had paralysed the country. While united in their resistance to the monarchy, participants were driven by a variety of ideological beliefs, including socialism, communism, liberalism, secularism, Islamism and nationalism. The shah fled into exile on January 16 1979 and Khomeini returned to Iran, which in March became an Islamic Republic with Khomeini at its head. But the US was not finished in its attempts to destabilise Iran. In 1980, Washington backed Saddam Hussein in initiating a brutal eight-year war, which claimed hundreds of thousands of Iranian lives and severely disrupted the country's efforts at political and economic reconstruction. Iran and the US have remained bitter foes. Over the years ordinary Iranians have suffered tremendously under rounds of US-imposed sanctions, which have all but destroyed the economy in recent years. This new wave of foreign aggression has arrived at a time of significant domestic unrest within Iran. Since the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, which began in September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police, there has been a general groundswell of demand for social justice and democracy. But the convergence of external aggression and internal demands has brought national sovereignty and self-determination to the forefront, as it did during previous major struggles. While world powers gamble with Iran's future, it is the Iranian people through their struggles and unwavering push for justice and democracy who must determine the country's future. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Simin Fadaee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
