US warns against travel to Syria over ‘terrorist violence’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States on Tuesday warned its citizens against traveling to Syria due to “terrorist violence,” two days after a deadly church attack in Damascus and with the country’s airspace remaining shut against the backdrop of the Israel-Iran conflict.

“There is an ongoing risk of terrorist violence in Syria. The U.S. Department of State strongly recommends that U.S. citizens not travel to Syria,” the State Department said in a statement.

It called on citizens willing to depart Syria to utilize land border crossings through Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, as well as border crossings into Iraq. 

Syria closed its airspace at the onset of the tit-for-tat conflict between Israel and Iran.

During Sunday mass, a deadly suicide bombing attack at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus’s Christian-majority Dweila neighborhood left at least 25 dead and 63 injured, according to the health ministry. 

Damascus blamed the Islamic State (ISIS) for the attack and promptly launched investigations. On Monday, the interior ministry announced the arrest of suspected ISIS affiliates connected to the deadly attack.

It was the first suicide bombing in a church in Syria since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011, and sparked worldwide condemnation.

Last month, US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a Riyadh summit, hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and attended remotely by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Following the meeting, Trump authorized the lifting of all economic sanctions on Syria. 

Following a swift offensive in December, a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), headed by Sharaa, toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In late January, Sharaa was appointed Syria’s interim president and has since been scrambling to maintain a tight grip on security.