Syrian Interior Ministry Thwarts Plan to Bomb a Church in Tartus

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

((Bahralarab)) Agencies: The Syrian Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday the arrest of two elements who were planning to carry out what it described as a "terrorist operation" targeting the bombing of a church in the coastal city of Tartus. The Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Wednesday: "The Special Tasks Unit, through a tight ambush, and after monitoring and tracking, was able to arrest two elements belonging to one of the outlaw groups, linked to the remnants of the defunct regime, who were on their way to carry out a terrorist operation in the Mar Elias Maronite Church, in the village of Al-Khuraybat in the Safita area in the countryside of Tartus." The head of internal security in Tartus Governorate, Colonel Abd al-Aali Muhammad Abd al-Aal, said that the suspects were planning to carry out a "terrorist act and detonate explosive devices inside the church." The colonel added: "During the operation, explosive devices prepared for detonation were seized, as well as papers with threatening and intimidating phrases for the people of the region, in addition to a black flag." The Ministry of Interior published pictures of the suspects on its official Facebook page, and said that "they were arrested to complete the investigations in preparation for referring them to the competent judiciary." Bombing of a church in Damascus The Mar Elias Church in the Syrian capital, Damascus, was subjected to a terrorist attack last June. The spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Interior said, after the attack, that initial assessments indicate that the attack on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus was carried out by the terrorist organization "ISIS". The Syrian Ministry of Health said that the number of victims of the attack that targeted the Mar Elias Church in the Al-Dweil'a area of the capital, Damascus, reached 25 dead and 63 injured. The bombing of the Mar Elias Church in Damascus was the first attack targeting a place of worship since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime on December 8th.