CDS DECRIES DESTRUCTION OF HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE IN DAMASCUS

The Coalition for a Democratic Syria, a coalition of groups representing over 100,000 Syrian-
Americans, decries and mourns the Assad regime's destruction of Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue on
Monday. The synagogue, located in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, was said to mark the site
where the prophet Elijah hid from his persecutors. It was one of the oldest synagogues in the world.

The Assad regime has been bombarding Jobar, one of the few rebel strongholds in Damascus proper,
for a number of months as part of its "scorched-earth" policy of destroying civilian areas. In previous
weeks, Assad forces have especially targeted the environs of the synagogue, destroying numerous
historical houses built in the "Damascus" architectural style. This put Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue
directly in the line of fire, and it has become the latest casualty of Assad's "scorched-earth" policy.

"I am deeply saddened to learn of the destruction of Jobar Synagogue, which was a treasure of Jewish
and Syrian cultural heritage," said Shlomo Bolts, a Jew of Syrian ancestry and the Policy and Advocacy
Officer at Syrian American Council, a Coalition for a Democratic Syria member organization. "Yet this
is hardly the only place of worship to be destroyed by the Assad regime. The Umm al-Zinar Church,
the Khalid Ibn Walid Mosque, and countless other irreplaceable cultural sites are now lost to history
due to a dictator's manic desire to keep power at all costs."

The Umm al-Zinar Church (Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt), a 2000-year-old church located in the
Homs Old City, was destroyed by regime bombardments in 2012. The Khalid Ibn Walid Mosque, a
mosque in the Khalidiya area of Homs dating back to the 7th century, was destroyed during the regime
assault on Khalidiya in mid-2013. Activists estimate that at least 33 churches and hundreds of mosques
have been destroyed by the Assad regime since the start of the Syrian Revolution.

The accompanying photographs, shot by Coalition for a Democratic Syria's network of contacts inside
Damascus, document the destroyed remnants of the Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue.