DAMASCUS, SYRIA - JUNE 24, 2025: A mass funeral ceremony was held on Tuesday, June 24, for the civilians who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on the Mar Elias Church in Syria's capital, Damascus. The bodies of the deceased, retrieved from various hospitals in the Qassa neighborhood of Damascus, were brought to the Holy Cross Church for funeral rituals. Syria’s Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Kabawat, senior state officials, Patriarch John X of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East, Patriarch Youssef Absi of the Greek Catholic Church, and Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II Karim attended the ceremony. Following the ceremony, the coffins were taken from the Holy Cross Church in a convoy escorted by civil defense teams and security forces, and were buried at a cemetery. A suicide bomber from the ISIS (Daesh) terror group opened fire Sunday inside the church in the east of Damascus before blowing himself up, killing at least 20 people and injuring 52 others, said the Syrian Health Ministry. The incident comes just weeks after Syria's Interior Ministry announced the uncovering of ISIS cells in rural Damascus on May 26. During the raid, authorities said they seized light- and medium-sized weapons. Since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria’s security services have continued to pursue individuals accused of involvement in crimes, human rights violations, and terrorism-related activities. Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963. Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in January. Reporting by Izettin Kasım // Writing by Ayse Elif Erdis