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Telegraph
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Israeli settlers burn West Bank's last Christian town
The Israeli settlers crept up to the ancient church perched above the West Bank's last Christian-majority town. As they reached the outer walls, they crouched down to light a ring of fire. Then they revved the engines of their secret weapons brought to fan the flames: garden leaf blowers. Residents watched in horror as the blaze spread closer to the Church of St George, which dates back to the fifth century. The flames were doused, but not for long. That evening, settlers returned to the town of Taybeh with assault rifles. The same happened the next day and three days after that. Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, told The Telegraph: 'Each time we called the Israeli police, but they did not come. 'If they attack our sacred site, they can attack anything of ours.' Settler attacks on Palestinians are on the rise across the occupied West Bank, where roughly half a million Israelis live in Jewish settlements among three million Palestinians. Five Palestinians have been killed in the last two weeks in villages and towns not far from Taybeh, including Sinjil where two men, including a dual US citizen, were beaten to death by settlers on July 12, prompting fury from the Trump administration. While most of the violence is directed against Muslims, settlers have started to attack Palestinian Christian villages like Taybeh. The once-flouring Christian community in the West Bank has dramatically shrunk to less than 2 per cent of the population as many emigrated abroad to escape the violence and religious discrimination. The same has happened in Gaza, where its roughly 1,000 Christians are mostly sheltering in the war-battered Strip's last three churches, one of which was attacked by Israeli forces last week, killing three civilians. Walking around the scorched earth that now encircles the Church of St George, Father Bashar warned: 'This is just the beginning. They want to put fear in our hearts to live here. 'These attacks will bleed the town of people as they leave scared. We have lost 10 families already in the past two years.' Emboldened settlers have set up illegal outposts closer to the town. A makeshift sign written in Hebrew erected outside the ancient town in June read: 'There is no future for you here.' David Khoury, the leader of Taybeh's Greek Orthodox Church, also fears an exodus. 'The settlers are making problems for us every day. Assaulting, vandalising, terrorising, terrifying our families, destroying our fields of olive trees, damaging our properties,' he said. There were more than 750 incidents of settler violence recorded in the first half of this year, up from 216 for the whole of 2023, according to the United Nations. The settler community is seizing the moment to annex land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War, encouraged by hard-Right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who come from settler backgrounds. The Israeli settlers first attacked Taybeh, north east of Ramallah – the de-facto capital of the Palestinian territory – just before the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel. During the devastating war that followed in Gaza, the situation has grown dire. Visiting Taybeh, the Patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem condemned the most recent violence as 'clearly part of the systematic attacks against Christians that we see unfolding throughout the region'. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel who is an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate of Israeli settlement construction, also toured the blackened church site on Saturday. He called the attacks an 'act of terror' and demanded 'harsh consequences' for the perpetrators. But he did not attribute the attack to settlers. The town is waiting to see if the condemnation will have an effect. The reality, however, is that settlers rarely face any legal consequences. Last week, the settlers grazed their cattle at the church, in what residents said was a desecration of the holy site. Throwing his hands in the air, Suleiman Khouryeh, Taybeh's mayor, said: 'We cannot protect the town, they are armed, we are not.' He believes the settlers are taunting the residents, trying to get them to answer with violence. 'And we will not,' he said. The mayor is on high alert after the recent killings in Sinjil. 'What happened there could at any moment happen to us – the settlers don't care whether we are Christian or Muslim. We are under attack because we are Palestinian.' Affirming what other witnesses had told The Telegraph, he said that Israeli police provided no help. 'We call the Israeli guards for help and no one comes. Who will protect us?' The future of the community is in peril, he warned. 'The youth has lost hope, there is no work, no safety, no life, no future and they want to leave.' Standing on an arid hill above Taybeh, Ramiz Akhoury pointed towards a huge swath of land to the east of the town, which hosts thousands of olive trees, sheep and chicken farms and fields of crops – the lifeblood of the local economy. 'They have taken it all,' the 37-year-old olive oil producer said forlornly. Over the past two years, he estimates that the settlers have seized 3,000 acres, which includes 70 per cent of his own land. 'They steal our farming equipment, cut our trees, burn them…We are all scared,' he said. In an attack last year, his uncle and aunt were badly beaten while working on the land. He showed The Telegraph dozens of videos showing the settlers grazing their cattle through Palestinian land, destroying vegetation and olive trees, as well as gun-wielding settlers burning land. 'Why do they come to us carrying guns. Do they want peace? I do not think so,' he said. In the face of the persistent violence and intimidation, farmers like Mr Akhoury have been forced to surrender most of their best land, ridding many of their livelihoods. Eid Kabnaeh, a 63-year-old Muslim-Palestinian, lives with 100 members of his extended family, creating their own small village on the outskirts of Taybeh. A tightly-wired fence has been erected around their open front room to stop settlers throwing stones at them when they drive-by, sometimes in a Jeep that was stolen from the family in April. They said they have been the target of settler attacks for four years, despite their home being 50 yards away from an Israeli military barracks. The family lives in constant fear of the next attack, not knowing when or how it will come. 'We are scared to move, we do not take our sheep to the valley to graze, they steal our cars, detain our children, behave like the military,' Mr Kabnaeh said. On June 25, dozens of men attacked the family while they prayed. 'We smelt the fires before we felt them,' Mr Kabnaeh said. Footage shows masked attackers setting fire to their cars and then trying to burn their homes. Many of the women and children suffered badly from smoke inhalation. 'It is hard to talk about what happened. The children were the most afraid, now they have nightmares,' Mr Kabnaeh added. Before leaving, the settlers painted a large Star of David on their outside wall. Mr Kabnaeh claimed that Israeli police just stood and watched from their base. The grandfather looked drained; his role as the leader of his household has taken its toll. 'I cannot manage this situation,' he said. If it is not the settlers, he said the Israeli Police harassing the family sometimes daily, often weekly. 'They come at night for checks all the time,' he said, describing how they pulled the house apart and separated the men from the women and children. 'We don't know what they are looking for, they never find anything.' Despite the relentless threats and violence, when asked if he would move, he shook his head and said: 'I will continue to live here, this is my land, this is my home, my future.' Illegal actions given legitimacy A report in December by Peace Now and Kerem Navot, Israel-based rights groups, said that settlers, with the backing of the Israeli military and government, have seized 14 per cent of the West Bank through establishing outposts and driving Palestinian farming communities out. Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-director of Settlement Watch at Peace Now, said the levels of settler violence that has been seen since Oct 7 'cannot happen without government support, indirectly or directly', and the [coalition's decision not to enforce the law'. 'The settlers right now feel strong and that their illegal actions have been given legitimacy by the government,' he added. Israel Police confirmed it had received reports from residents of an arson attack near the church and said a 'thorough investigation' would be carried out. 'If arson is confirmed, justice will be pursued regardless of race or background,' a statement said. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement: 'Contrary to claims regarding the arson of a church in the village area, such incidents are not known to the IDF. Fires near the church are known and were extinguished by Israeli civilians.' It confirmed it had received reports of fires being set in an open area near Taybeh on July 8 and several suspects setting fire to land on July 11. In the latter incident, the IDF said it dispatched forces but 'found no suspects in the act of arson'. It added: 'Regarding the question of military presence around the village, the IDF operates continuously in Judea and Samaria against terrorist activity and to improve the security of all area residents.'
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Syria's Christians fear for future after devastating church attack
Warning: This article contains distressing details "Your brother is a hero." This is what Emad was told after finding out his brother had been killed in a suicide explosion at a church in the Syrian capital of Damascus. His brother, Milad, and two others had tried to push the suicide attacker out of the church building. He was killed instantly – alongside 24 other members of the congregation. Another 60 people were injured in the attack at Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Dweila on 22 was the first such attack in Damascus since Islamist-led rebel forces overthrew Bashar al- Assad in December, ending 13 years of devastating civil war. It was also the first targeting of the Christian community in Syria since a massacre in 1860, when a conflict broke out between Druze and Maronite Christians under Ottoman rule. The Syrian authorities blamed the attack on the Islamic State (IS) group. However, a lesser- known Sunni extremist group, Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, has said it was behind the attack – though government officials say they do not operate independently of IS. Milad had been attending a Sunday evening service at the church, when a man opened fire on the congregation before detonating his explosive vest. Emad heard the explosion from his house and for hours was unable to reach his brother."I went to the hospital to see him. I couldn't recognise him. Half of his face was burnt," Emad told me, speaking from his small two bedroom-home which he shares with several other is a tall, thin man in his 40s with an angular face that bears the lines of a hard life. He, like his brother, had been working as a cleaner in a school in the poor neighbourhood, which is home to many lower to middle class and predominantly Christian Bashar al-Assad's rule, members of Syria's many religious and ethnic minority communities believed the state protected them. Now, many fear the new Islamist-led government, established by the rebels who overthrew him last December, will not do the interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government have pledged to protect all citizens, recent deadly sectarian violence in Alawite coastal areas and then in Druze communities around Damascus have made people doubt its ability to control the of Emad's family members echoed this sentiment, saying: "We are not safe here anymore." Angie Awabde, 23, was just two months away from graduating university when she got caught up in the church attack. She heard the gunshots before the blast. "It all happened in seconds," she told me, speaking from her hospital bed as she recovers from shrapnel wounds to her face, hand and leg, as well as a broken is frightened and feels there is no future for Christians in Syria. "I just want to leave this country. I lived through the crisis, the war, the mortars. I never expected that something would happen to me inside a church," she said. "I don't have a solution. They need to find a solution, this is not my job, if they can't protect us, we want to leave." Before the 13-year civil war, Christians made up about 10% of the 22 million population in Syria - but their numbers have shrunk significantly since then with hundreds of thousands fleeing abroad. Churches were among the buildings bombed by the Syrian government and allied Russian forces during the war – but not while worshippers were inside. Thousands of Christians were also forced from their homes due to the threat from hardline Islamist and jihadist groups, such as IS. Outside the hospital where Angie is being treated, coffins of some of the victims of the church attack were lined up, ready for burial. People from all walks of life, and representing different parts of Syrian society, attended the service at a nearby church, which took place under a heavy security presence. In a sermon at the service, the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church in Syria, John Yazigi, insisted "the government bears responsibility in full". He said a phone call from President Ahmed al-Sharaa expressing his condolences was "not enough for us", drawing applause from the congregation. "We are grateful for the phone call. But the crime that took place is a little bigger than that."Sharaa last week promised that those involved in the "heinous" attack would face justice. A day after the bombing, two of the suspects were killed and six others arrested in a security operation on an IS cell in Damascus. But this has done little to allay fears here about the security situation, especially for religious minorities. Syria has also seen a crack down on social freedoms, including decrees on how women should dress at beaches, attacks on men wearing shorts in public and bars and restaurants closing for serving here fear that these are not just random cases but signs of a wider plan to change Syrian Meletius Shattahi, director-general of the charitable arm of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, feels the government is not doing refers to videos circulating online showing armed religious preachers advocating for Islam over loud speakers in Christian neighbourhoods, saying these are not "individual incidents". "These are taking place in public in front of everybody, and we know very well that our government is not taking any action against [those] who are breaching the laws and the rules."This alleged inaction, he says, is what led to the attack at the Church of the Prophet Elias.
Arab News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Shadowy extremist group claims Damascus church attack
BEIRUT: A little-known Sunni Muslim extremist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Damascus church over the weekend that authorities have blamed on the Daesh group. Sunday's attack killed 25 and wounded dozens of others, striking terror into the Syrian Arab Republic's Christian community and other minorities. A statement from Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said a group operative 'blew up the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa neighborhood of Damascus,' saying it came after unspecified 'provocation.' The Islamist authorities who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December had quickly blamed the attack on Daesh and announced several arrests on Monday in a security operation against Daesh-affiliated cells. But the Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna statement on messaging app Telegram, where it counts several hundred followers, said the government's version of events was 'untrue, fabricated.' The group, which was formed after Assad's ouster, vowed that 'what is coming will not give you respite' warning that 'our soldiers... are fully prepared.' In March, a dispute took place in front of the Saint Elias church, as residents expressed opposition to Islamic chants being played on loudspeakers from a car. Sunday's attack was the first suicide bombing in a church in Syria since the country's civil war erupted in 2011, according to a Syrian monitor. It followed sectarian violence in recent months including massacres of members of the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs and clashes with Druze fighters, with security one of the new authorities' greatest challenges. The bloodshed has raised concerns about the government's ability to control radical fighters, after Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) led the offensive that ousted Assad. HTS was once affiliated with Al-Qaeda before breaking ties in 2016. Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, a Syria-based analyst and researcher, said Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna could be 'a pro-Daesh splinter originating primarily from defectors from HTS... and other factions but currently operating independently of IS.' He also said it could be 'just a Daesh front group.' Citing a Saraya source, Tamimi said a disillusioned former HTS functionary heads the group, whose leadership includes a former member of Hurras Al-Din, the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate which announced in January it was dissolving, upon the orders of the new government. The monitor said Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna had previously threatened to target Alawites and had carried out an attack in Hama province earlier this year. The group is accused of involvement in the sectarian massacres in March that the monitor alleged to have killed more than 1,700 people, mostly Alawite civilians.
The National
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Iran attacks US airbase in Qatar, and church bombing in Syria
Iran launched missiles at the Al Udeid US airbase. An attack on a church in Syria has left the Christian community reeling. Egypt is facing unique implications of a dominant Israel in the case of Iran's defeat in the conflict. On today's episode of Trending Middle East: Damascus church bombing threatens political gains of both Christians and new Syrian state This episode features Thomas Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent; Nada Atallah, Beirut Correspondent; and Hamza Hendawi, Cairo Correspondent.
Reuters
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Syria's Christians ask 'Why us?' after suicide bombing at Damascus church
DAMASCUS, June 23 (Reuters) - Syrian Christians were struggling on Monday to understand why their community was targeted in a suicide attack and whether they can rely on the Islamist-led government's assurances of protection. Syria's health ministry said the toll from Sunday's attack on the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood had risen to 25 dead and more than 60 wounded. The interior ministry said the suicide bomber was a member of Islamic State who entered the church, opened fire and detonated an explosive vest. There was no claim of responsibility by the Islamic State group. On Monday, funeral announcements were posted on the door of the church. Members of the security forces stood outside it and other churches. "I wonder why they target us. We had no interest in any of the events that happened in our country. We have no interests besides Syria living in peace," said Bassim Khoury, a Christian resident of Damascus. "We did not carry weapons, we did not stand against anyone. We did not ask for government positions. None of us wants to become president, no one wants to run the government... Why would this happen to this peaceful people?" The attack fed fears among Syria's minorities that their communities are more exposed to attacks and harassment since Islamist-led rebels toppled former leader Bashar al-Assad in December. In March, hundreds of Alawites - the minority from which Assad hails - were killed in Syria's coastal provinces and dozens were kidnapped and killed in Damascus. In May, an armed raid on a Damascus nightclub and the killing of a woman at another venue led some bars to close. Christian residents of Damascus told Reuters that Muslim sheikhs had come to their neighbourhoods in the last six months to urge them to convert to Islam and to stop consuming alcohol. The violence has prompted questions about whether Syria's new rulers have full control over armed elements despite promises by Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa - formerly a member of Al Qaeda - to rule inclusively for all of the diverse religious and ethnic groups. "We're in a country that must protect everyone," said Jean Bahri, another Christian resident of Damascus. Nibras Youssef, from Dweila, said people has already been on edge over the security situation, in which armed men and boys who said they were official security force members produced no relevant identification papers. "You see a 13-year-old holding a weapon and you cannot say anything to them," said Youssef. Sharaa expressed his condolences, calling Sonday's attack a "criminal bombing that hurt the whole Syrian people". Several Syrian ministers, as well as church leaders and other foreign officials, condemned the attacks. Candlelit vigils and church services were held elsewhere in Syria in solidarity with the parishioners at Mar Elias.
