Darayya, Syria 2016. The destruction of the historical district once inhabited by more than 75 thousand inhabitants, mostly Christians, just ten kilometers away from the heart of Damascus, famed throughout the country to be the birthplace of Gregory III Laham, patriarch of the current greek-Melkite Catholic Church. The entire area, released by the Syrian army in early November, has been torn to the ground because of the fighting. And the artillery shells have not spared churches either. So after Maaloula, Al Hamydyya in Homs, and Al Qaryatayn, another nucleus of Christianity in Syria is erased from the spiritual map of the country.
