Terrorists attacked the inauguration of a new Greek Orthodox church in Hama, Syria, leaving at least two dead and more than a dozen injured.
The July 24 attack was apparently the result of a missile, drone strike or artillery shell. The Church of St. Sophia had been constructed as a smaller replica of the ancient Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was recently converted to a mosque by the Turkish government. The church is located in al-Suqaylabiyah near Hama in central Syria.
According to a report in Aleteia, the shell landed roughly 15 yards from worshippers and the archbishops of Hama, Nicolas Baalbaki, and Homs, Georges Abou Zahem, who were gathered in front of the building.
“Our children in Suqaylabiyah are paying the price of their faith with blood. What happened in Suqaylabiyah is a despicable and reprehensible act of terrorism,” said John X, Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch.
While no claims of responsibility for the attack have been made, some defense analysists have said it may have been in retaliation for an earlier Russian air attack against a nearby village controlled by jihadists that left four children dead. Russia assisted in the building of the new church, and the Russian government had expressed strong opposition to the conversion of Hagia Sophia. Russia has also been providing military and other support to the Syrian government in its fight against jihadist rebels who seek to overthrow the Al-Assad regime and install an Islamic state.