Terror Attack on Ecumenical Religious Consecration in Syria

Religious leaders — Orthodox and Catholic Christians, Shi’a and Sunni Muslims — joined Syrian political leaders and ambassadors to Syria from several countries, together with about 1,000 other citizens including many children, gathered on Sunday, July 24, for the ceremony in Hama Province for the opening of an Orthodox Church which is a replica of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. That is the sixth century cathedral which has gone back and fourth as a mosque and a cathedral since 1453, most recently when Turkey’s President Erdogan again made it a mosque. The Hama ceremony was attacked by two suicide drones from the terrorists centered in Idlib province, killing two and injuring several others, and shutting down the ecumenical ceremony.