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DAMASCUS: The sleeper cell behind a deadly church bombing near Damascus belonged to the Daesh group, which had plans to target a Shiite shrine in a similar attack, Syria’s Interior Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Sunday’s attack on the Mar Elias Church killed at least 25 people.

The attack was the first of its kind in the Syrian Arab Republic in years, and comes as Damascus is trying to win the support of the country’s minorities.

Noureddine Al-Baba told journalists a second attacker was caught on Monday on his way to target a Shiite shrine in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb in Damascus, where many religious sites are located.

Al-Baba said security forces also thwarted a third operation, where an attacker on a motorbike was going to target a crowded gathering in the capital.

“We raided Daesh hideouts, seizing weapons and explosive caches,” said Al-Baba, who said security forces were able to reach the sleeper cell’s leader after interrogating the second attacker.

He said the church bomber was not Syrian but did not give details.

Al-Baba said cell leader Mohammad Abdelillah Al-Jumaili was a “Daesh leader” responsible for recruiting extremists from the sprawling Al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria to conduct attacks.

Tens of thousands of Daesh militants and their families from around the world live in Al-Hol, held by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF condemned the attack on Sunday.

Meanwhile, funerals were held for the victims of the church bombing at the Church of the Holy Cross in Damascus. Church bells rang and women ululated as men walked through the weeping crowds carrying white coffins.

The crowds cheered as the clergy honored the victims as martyrs.

Dima Beshara, 40, who lost her cousin Emil, 38, and seven other family members in the attack said Syria has always enjoyed religious coexistence and that she was among many from all sects who celebrated the downfall of ousted leader Bashar Assad in December.

“What did they do wrong? They went to the house of God to pray?” Beshara said at the graveyard.

“Am I supposed to be scared every time I want to go and pray?” She fears for her life and those of her loved ones, who regularly attend church for prayers, weddings and funerals.

“We love everyone. We don’t have a problem with anyone. But we hope that they love us in return,” she said.

Syria’s top Christian leader said at the funeral for victims that President Ahmad Al-Sharaa’s government bore responsibility for not protecting minorities and his condolences were insufficient.

“With love and with all due respect, Mr. President, you spoke yesterday by phone ... to express your condolences. That is not enough for us,” the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, John (X) Yazigi, said at the funeral, drawing applause.

“We are grateful for the phone call. But the crime that took place is a little bigger than that.”

The US State Department condemned what its spokesperson Tammy Bruce described as “a brutal and cowardly attack” and called on the Syrian government to hold all perpetrators of violence accountable.

She said Washington continued to support the Syrian government “as it fights against forces seeking to create instability and fear in their country and in the broader region.”

Yazigi said the government must prioritize protection for all.

“What is important to me — and I will say it — is that the government bears responsibility in full,” Yazigi said.

Hundreds were at the service in the nearby Church of the Holy Cross to bury nine of the victims, whose bodies were placed in simple white coffins adorned with white flowers.

Social Affairs Minister Hind Kabawat — the only Christian and only woman in Syria’s new government — attended.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: US President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that US and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace even as Tehran insisted it will not give up its nuclear program.
Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he wasn’t particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that US strikes had destroyed its nuclear program. Earlier in the day, an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack.
“We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” Trump said. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done.”
Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, though US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. A sixth round of negotiations between the US and Iran had been scheduled for earlier this month in Oman but was canceled when Israel attacked Iran.
Earlier, Trump said the ceasefire was going “very well,” and added that Iran was “not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich.”
Iran has insisted, however, that it will not give up its nuclear program. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, its parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog that has monitored the program for years.
Ahead of the vote, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having “refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities” that the US carried out on Sunday.
“For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace,” Qalibaf told lawmakers.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities. Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the US strikes, and Grossi said his inspectors need to re-assess the country’s stockpiles.
“We need to return,” he said. “We need to engage.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country was part of the 2015 deal with Iran that restricted its nuclear program but began unraveling after Trump pulled the US out in his first term, said he hoped Tehran would come back to the table.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was peaceful, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon.
Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, which it has never acknowledged.
The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said its assessment was that the US and Israeli strikes have “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.” It did not give evidence to back up its claim.
The US strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump said “completely and fully obliterated” the country’s nuclear program. When asked about a US intelligence report that found Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months, Trump scoffed and said it would at least take “years” to rebuild.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that the strikes by US B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage.
“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, while refusing to go into detail.
He seemed to suggest Iran might not shut out IAEA inspectors for good, noting that the bill before parliament only talks of suspending work with the agency, not ending it. He also insisted Iran has the right to pursue a nuclear energy program.
“Iran is determined to preserve that right under any circumstances,” he said.
Witkoff said on Fox News late on Tuesday that Israel and the US had achieved their objective of “the total destruction of the enrichment capacity” in Iran, and Iran’s prerequisite for talks — that Israel end its campaign — had been fulfilled.
“The proof is in the pudding,” he said. “No one’s shooting at each other. It’s over.”