DWEIL’A: At a church in Syria where a suicide attack killed 25 people in June, hundreds of worshippers gathered before Christmas to remember those they lost and reaffirm their faith.
With a small detail of security forces standing guard outside, members of Mar Elias Church held Mass on Tuesday evening and lit an image of Christmas tree made of neon lights on the wall of the courtyard outside. The tree was hung with pictures of those who were killed in the attack.
They include three men the congregation hails as heroes for tackling the bomber, potentially averting a much higher death toll in the June 22 attack.
A man opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside the Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a on the outskirts of Damascus as it was filled with people praying on a Sunday.
Before he detonated the vest, brothers Boutros and Gergis Bechara and another congregant, Milad Haddad, tackled the shooter and pushed him out of the center of the church, congregants said.
