Aleppo Church says explosion attempt was prevented
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – The Syriac Orthodox Archbishopric of Aleppo and its Dependencies said on Wednesday that an attempted bombing inside Mar Ephrem Syriac Cathedral in Aleppo’s Suleimaniyah neighborhood was thwarted after a suspicious object was discovered near the church.
In a statement, the archbishopric said the incident took place on the morning of May 13, 2026, when “a strange object wrapped in a black bag was discovered after it fell from a hearse belonging to one of the burial offices.”
The statement explained that the object fell while the body of a member of the congregation was being brought into the cathedral for funeral rites.
“At first, it was believed to be a part of the vehicle,” the statement said, adding that the driver denied any connection to the object, prompting immediate concern among church staff and attendees.
According to the archbishopric, a traffic police officer was called to the scene, followed by security personnel who sealed off the area after suspecting that the object could be explosive.
A specialized explosives unit later arrived and handled the device “with high professionalism” before removing it from the site, the statement added.
The archbishopric also said that surveillance camera footage later showed the object had fallen from the hearse, which had been parked overnight on a nearby street before arriving at the cathedral.
No casualties or damages were reported.
Mar Ephrem Cathedral is one of the main Syriac Christian religious sites in Aleppo, a city that hosts diverse religious and ethnic communities and witnessed repeated security incidents during years of conflict in Syria.