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A little-known Sunni Muslim extremist group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a weekend suicide attack against a church in Damascus, while the Syrian government insisted they were part of the Islamic State group.Sunday’s attack killed 25 people and wounded dozens, striking terror into Syria’s Christian community and other minorities.A statement from Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said an operative “blew up the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa neighbourhood of Damascus”, adding that it came after an unspecified “provocation”.Syria’s Islamist authorities, who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, had quickly blamed the attack on the Islamic State group and announced several arrests on Monday in a security operation against IS-affiliated cells.IS did not claim responsibility for the attack.The Saraya Ansar al-Sunna statement, on the messaging app Telegram, said the government’s version of events was “untrue, fabricated”.The spokesman for the interior ministry, Nureddine al-Baba, said during a press conference on Tuesday that the cell behind the attack “officially follows Daesh”, adding that Saraya Ansar al-Sunna was ” not independent… as it follows Daesh”.Daesh is the Arabic acronym for IS.Baba also said that the church attacker was not Syrian, without specifying his nationality, and came to Damascus with another suicide bomber from the al-Hol camp in the northeast, which hosts displaced people and relatives of IS members.Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria-based analyst and researcher, said Saraya Ansar al-Sunna could be “a pro-IS splinter originating primarily from defectors from HTS… and other factions but currently operating independently of IS”.Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is the Islamist group headed by Syria’s now-President Ahmed al-Sharaa that led the overthrow of Assad.Baba said it could be “just an IS front group”.Citing a source within the group, Tamimi said a disillusioned former HTS functionary headed Saraya.He added that its leadership included a former member of Hurras al-Din, an Al-Qaeda affiliate that announced in January it was dissolving on the orders of the new government.- ‘Heinous crime’ -At the funeral of some of those killed in Damascus’s Holy Cross Church, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John X called the attack an “unacceptable incident”.Addressing Sharaa, the patriarch said “the heinous crime that took place at Mar Elias Church is the first massacre of its kind in Syria since 1860”, referring to the mass killings of Christians in Damascus under the Ottoman Empire.”We refuse for these events to take place during the revolution and during your honourable era.”Sharaa had called the patriarchate’s adviser to send his condolences, an act John X called “insufficient”.To ululations and tears, nine white coffins were carried into the church, amid a heavy security presence in the area.”These events are fleeting and have no value in history,” teacher Raji Rizkallah, 50, told AFP.”Christianity is a deeply rooted and permanent part of this land, and extremists are heretics.”Assad’s government portrayed itself as a protector of minorities, who were subject to numerous attacks claimed by jihadist groups during the 14-year civil war.The new authorities have repeatedly pledged to protect minorities, despite the eruption of sectarian violence on multiple occasions in recent months.The suicide bombing followed massacres of members of the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs and clashes with Druze fighters.The bloodshed has raised concerns about the government’s ability to control radical fighters who took part in Assad’s overthrow.HTS was once affiliated with Al-Qaeda before breaking ties in 2016.

Iran’s unprecedented strikes on a US base in Qatar were carefully calculated to provide an exit from hostilities with Washington and set up a truce with Israel, according to analysts and an official.Monday’s missile launches were signalled well in advance, minimising the risk of injury and giving every opportunity to shoot down the projectiles — resulting in a fireworks display of booms and flashes above Doha.They followed heavy US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at the weekend, a sudden escalation that raised concerns about how Tehran, after more than a week of exchanges with Israel, would respond.In the event, gas-rich Qatar, 190 kilometres (120 miles) south of Iran across the Gulf, held the answer in the form of Al Udeid, the Middle East’s biggest US base and headquarters of its regional command.Targeting a United States base, rather than inciting fury, triggered a calm reaction from President Donald Trump, who thanked Iran for giving “early notice”.Qatar condemned the strikes — Iran’s first on a Gulf country’s territory — but its prime minister said the response would be diplomatic and legal, rather than military.Hours after the attack, Trump announced a ceasefire that both Israel and Iran later said they would accept. A source with knowledge of the talks said Doha had spoken to Tehran and “persuaded” it to stop fighting.- ‘Off ramp’ -Chatham House geopolitics specialist Neil Quilliam said the attack was “clearly limited” and “intended to satisfy Iran’s population that its leadership responded forcibly to the US air strikes on Saturday”.Iran had promised to inflict “serious, unpredictable consequences” on the US for joining its ally Israel’s campaign against the Islamic republic with strikes on three nuclear sites.The wealthy Gulf states, which host a number of US military sites, had been preparing for days for a possible strike by Iran. A week before Qatar was targeted, Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, tested its civil defence sirens.Also last week, dozens of US military aircraft disappeared from the tarmac at Al Udeid, according to satellite images published by Planet Labs PBC and analysed by AFP.In the hours before the attack, the US embassy in Qatar advised Americans there not to go out, with some other Western embassies echoing the warning.Shortly before the strikes, air traffic was suspended over Qatar “as part of a set of precautionary measures”, the country’s foreign ministry said.Ali Vaez, senior advisor at the International Crisis Group said Iran’s action against Qatar was “symbolic” and “calibrated and telegraphed in a way that would not result in any American casualties, so that there is an off-ramp for both sides”.- ‘Taken this punch’ -According to the source with knowledge of the talks, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani spoke to the Iranians at Washington’s request after the strikes.Trump told Qatar’s emir that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire, before US Vice President JD Vance spoke to the prime minister “who persuaded Iran to agree to the proposal in a call with the Iranians”, the source said.Vaez said the “good relationship between Iran and Qatar is the reason that Iran opted to strike… the Al Udeid base in Qatar”.Before the attack, there had been speculation that Iran could target US forces based in Iraq or elsewhere in the region.”I see this as a continuation of Qatar’s mediation between Iran and the United States, that it has taken this punch as a means of trying to prevent further escalation,” Vaez added.Quilliam said: “While Qatar’s official responses to the attacks condemned Iran, it also pushed forward a deeper message about ending conflict in the region.”

A fragile ceasefire in the Iran-Israel war appeared to be holding on Tuesday, after 12 days of strikes that saw Israel and the United States pummel the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities.After US President Donald Trump, who had first declared the ceasefire, angrily berated both sides for violating it, Iran announced it would respect the truce if Israel did, while Israel said it had refrained from further strikes.Israel, in announcing it had agreed to Trump’s plan, said it had achieved all its military objectives.Iran initially stopped short of officially accepting the proposal, but President Masoud Pezeshkian later said that if “the Zionist regime does not violate the ceasefire, Iran will not violate it either”.Israel had accused Iran of firing missiles at it after the truce was meant to have come into effect — which Tehran denied — vowing to respond.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said Israel had “destroyed a radar installation near Tehran” in retaliation, but had “refrained from further strikes” following a phone call between Trump and the premier.On his way to attend a NATO summit in The Hague, Trump had publicly castigated both countries for violating the truce, and demanded Israel call off what he characterised as an imminent attack, later saying “the Ceasefire is in effect!”- Claims of victory -Both Israel and Iran appeared to claim victory following the announcement of the truce.The Israeli government said Netanyahu had convened his cabinet “to announce that Israel had achieved all the objectives of Operation Rising Lion and much more”.It added that it had removed “an immediate dual existential threat: nuclear and ballistic”, while vowing to respond forcefully to any violations of the ceasefire.Iran’s top security body, meanwhile, said the Islamic republic’s forces had “compelled” Israel to “unilaterally” stand down.Its Revolutionary Guards also hailed a missile salvo fired at Israel “in the final moments before the ceasefire”, saying it taught “a historic and unforgettable lesson to the Zionist enemy”.Israeli rescuers reported four people killed when a missile struck a residential building in the southern city of Beersheba early Tuesday.In Iran, state television said an overnight Israeli strike in the north killed nuclear scientist Mohammad Reza Seddighi Saber, who was under US sanctions.- Strikes on US base -Israel first launched its campaign against Iran on June 13, hitting nuclear and military sites as well as residential areas, and prompting waves of Iranian missile attacks on Israel.While Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, this has been by far the most destructive confrontation between the arch-foes.The war also saw US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities using massive bunker-busting bombs, followed by an Iranian missile attack targeting a US military base in Qatar.Calling for de-escalation, Trump said Tehran had given advance notice of the barrage, and announced the contours of the ceasefire just hours later.Iran’s National Security Council confirmed having targeted the base “in response to the US aggressive and insolent action against Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities”.It added that the number of missiles launched “was the same as the number of bombs that the US had used” against Iran.Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group, told AFP: “This was calibrated and telegraphed in a way that would not result in any American casualties, so that there is an off ramp for both sides.”- ‘Everyone is tired’ -Some Israelis on Tuesday welcomed the prospect of a truce.”I am so tired. Everyone is tired. We just want to have some peace of mind,” said Tel Aviv resident Tammy Shel, voicing hope for a lasting ceasefire. “For us, for the Iranian people, for the Palestinians, for everyone in the region.”Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry.Iran’s attacks on Israel have killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.The international community reacted with cautious optimism to news of the truce.Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed Trump’s announcement, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped “that this will be a sustainable ceasefire”.China’s foreign ministry said it supported Iran in “achieving a genuine ceasefire so that people can return to normal life”.But French President Emmanuel Macron warned there was an “increased” risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly following the US and Israeli strikes on nuclear sites.Some turned their sights to the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, arguing it was time to bring an end to that war too.The Palestinian Authority, Israel’s opposition leader and the main group representing the families of Israeli hostages all called for a Gaza ceasefire. The soaring death toll in the Palestinian territory has prompted months of international criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war, even from staunch allies.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that “the moment has come to conclude a ceasefire for Gaza”, adding that his country supported Israel but reserved the right to “critically question what Israel wants to achieve in the Gaza Strip”.burs-smw/kir

Tehran was far from its usual hustle and bustle on Tuesday, but life was regaining some colour despite concerns from residents that a tentative ceasefire between Iran and Israel may not hold, after nearly two weeks of war.In Tajrish bazaar in north Tehran, everyone had their own opinion on whether the end to the fighting announced by US President Donald Trump would last.”I don’t think it is sustainable,” said Ahmad Barqi, a 75-year-old vendor of electronics. “We would like a ceasefire… but they don’t implement it, they don’t keep to their promises,” he said, referring to the Israelis.”It seems Israel is violating the truce,” said Alireza Jahangiri, another merchant, who heard state media reporting that Israel had carried out three rounds of strikes after the ceasefire was announced.Nevertheless, no strikes had been recorded in Tehran since the early morning, after a night in which residents were woken by explosions more numerous than previously in the war.”Fortunately, we have survived,” said one relieved Tehrani taking advantage of the truce and the good weather to walk in the park, while nearby cafes were welcoming young people happy to be able to meet up again. They were among those who had stuck it out in the capital, but the question remains whether those who fled Tehran will be convinced to return.”We will see. I think that we will stay another week in the north to see how things develop,” said Amir, 28, who spoke to AFP by phone. – ‘Boom, peace’ -Amir said he “froze for a minute” on hearing that Trump had announced a ceasefire on social media in the middle of the night.”It was really shocking. Trump just said he would think for two weeks before making a decision (to bomb Iran), but all of a sudden he bombed everywhere. He said he wasn’t pursuing regime change and all of a sudden, boom, peace. I really don’t know… about the ceasefire but honestly, I don’t think things will return to normal,” he said.Benyamin, 28, said he too was doubtful about peace but that he had no choice but to return to the capital from the shores of the Caspian Sea, because his income had been slashed.The 12-day crisis has badly impacted economic life in Tehran, with large numbers of businesses as well as public offices forced to close while private offices in the most exposed neighbourhoods were deserted. Israeli strikes destroyed or damaged public buildings, in particular those related to the military, the Revolutionary Guards or Iran’s nuclear programme, as well as killing civilians in buildings where high-ranking officials and scientists lived.”When there’s a war, everyone suffers economically,” said Jahangiri, the Tajrish merchant. “But I don’t think we should think about that right now. The priority is the aggression against our beloved country, to which we must respond, the sixty-year-old said.Iranian authorities presented the halt in strikes as a “triumph that forced the enemy to regret, accept defeat and unilaterally cease its aggression”. But they added that Iran “does not trust its enemies at all” and “keeps its finger on the trigger for a decisive response” in the event of renewed “aggression”.

The United Nations on Tuesday condemned what it said was Israel’s “weaponisation of food” in Gaza and called it a war crime, urging its military to “stop shooting at people trying to get food”.The head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees also called a new US- and Israel-backed food-distribution system in the Gaza Strip an “abomination”.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began handing out food in Gaza on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into the occupied Palestinian territory for more than two months, sparking warnings of mass famine.The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF — an officially private effort with opaque funding — over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.”Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution,” said UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan.”The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime.”He stressed that only a court could make a legal determination on whether war crimes have been committed.- Fatalities -Kheetan noted “scenes of chaos around the food distribution points” of the GHF.”Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food,” he told reporters in Geneva.Since the GHF began operating, “the Israeli military has shelled and shot Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points, leading to many fatalities”, he said.Kheetan pointed to reports that “over 410 Palestinians have been killed as a result, (while) at least 93 others have also been reportedly killed by the Israeli army while attempting to approach the very few aid convoys of the UN and other humanitarian organisations”.He said those figures came from the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and from other sources, including NGOs.Kheetan said the UN human rights office was in the process of verifying the figures — and in both cases, further people may have been killed from other sources of fire — something his office cannot confirm.”At least 3,000 Palestinians have been injured in these incidents,” he added.”Each of these killings must be promptly and impartially investigated, and those responsible must be held to account.”Kheetan cautioned that the system “endangers civilians and contributes to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza”. The UN said in May that “100 percent of the population” of the besieged territory were “at risk of famine”.”Humanitarian assistance must never be used as a bargaining chip in any conflict,” he said.The UN rights office demanded immediate action to rectify the situation.”The Israeli military must stop shooting at people trying to get food,” said Kheetan.- ‘Abomination’ -Meanwhile Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, slammed GHF as “an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people”. “It is a death trap costing more lives than it saves,” he told a press conference in Berlin.Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants and earlier this year banned the agency from operating on Israeli soil or contacting officials. Lazzarini called for UNRWA to regain access to the Palestinian territory and restart its aid efforts.”The humanitarian community, including UNRWA, has the expertise and must be allowed to do their job and provide assistance with respect and dignity,” he said.”There is no other alternative to address the challenges of spreading hunger in the Gaza Strip.”GHF said Monday it had distributed roughly 680,000 food boxes so far.”GHF workers continue to provide meals safely and securely,” said the foundation’s interim chief John Acree, adding: “Our system is working, and we will press on.”nl-burs/rjm/apo/phz