President Assad strongly condemns deadly attack on mosque revealing real aims of terrorists in Damascus

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has condemned the recent deadly attack on a mosque in Damascus that killed dozens of people including a top Sunni cleric.

“They have killed you our Sheikh, because you raised the voice in the face of their dark thinking that aims originally to destroy the principles of our forgiving religion,” Assad said in a letter of condolence on Thursday, referring to Sheikh Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti.

Over 40 people were killed and more than 80 others injured when a terrorist blew himself up inside al-Iman Mosque in Damascus on Thursday, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

The attack was carried out while Sheikh Bouti was giving a religious speech to a group of students, including his grandson, SANA said.

President Assad further added, “A promise from the Syrian people – and I am one of them – that your blood, your grandson and the martyrs of today and all the homeland will not go in vain, because we will stay following your thinking to eliminate their darkness.”

Syria’s Ministry of Religious Endowments also censured the attack and said the “malicious hands of traitors killed the great scholar because he was the voice of Syria, the right of Syria and the image of Syria… They targeted his body, but they didn’t target his mentality or spirit.”

Bouti, 84, was a retired dean and a professor at the College of Islamic Law at Damascus University. He was known for his anti-terrorism stances and criticism of foreign-backed militant groups fighting against the Syrian government.

Last week, the late scholar said during his lecture, “We are invaded in every inch of our land, in our bread, in our lives, women, children sanctities and honor.”

“We are today in front of a legitimate duty… which is the need of mobilization to protect the values, the homeland and the holy sites, and there is no difference, in this case, between the army and the rest of this nation,” Bouti stated.