You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Attack on Syria church gathering kills 2: state media
2022-07-25
[AlAhram] Two people were killed and 12 injured Sunday by bombardment of a church as it was being inaugurated in Syria's central province of Hama, the official SANA news agency reported.

"A rocket fired by terrorist organizations targeted a religious gathering in the town of al-Suqaylabiyah near Hama, killing two people and wounding 12," it said.

SANA said the attack came during a ceremony to inaugurate the Ayia Sofia church.

Britannia-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a vast network of sources on the ground, confirmed the attack.

Giving a toll of one civilian killed and several maimed, the Observatory said shelling or a drone attack by nearby rebel groups could be to blame.

Sunday's attack came two days after bombardment killed seven people including four children in the rebel-held Idlib region. The Observatory said Friday's fatalities in the Jisr al-Shughur countryside of northern Syria were caused by Russian air strikes.

Around half of Idlib province as well as parts of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
, the former franchise in Syria of al-Qaeda.

Other rebel groups in the last pocket of armed opposition to the Damascus regime also remain active, with varying degrees of Ottoman Turkish backing.

In March 2020, Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
brokered a truce in Idlib and neighbouring areas that still holds, despite sporadic attacks from both sides, including Russian air strikes.
If sporadic is defined as daily, that statement is true.
Syria's war began in 2011 and has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes.
Posted by:trailing wife

00:00