One civilian was killed and 12 others were injured in a drone attack by terrorist organizations on a crowded gathering in Suqaylabiyah City in Hama countryside on Sunday, July 24.

Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that a drone equipped with high explosives attacked a crowd of civilians celebrating the opening of the Hagia Sophia Church.

The terrorist attack also caused material damage to the place.

The Syrian government has earlier started building a replica of the Hagia Sophia that would operate as an Orthodox cathedral, in protest of the Turkish government’s move to convert the iconic structure into a mosque, according to various media reports. A Russian lawmaker said that Moscow would provide funding for the project to show the importance of “peaceful dialogue” between faiths.

Russia assisted in building the min-Hagia Sophia in city of Al Suqaylabiyah to show the importance of “peaceful dialogue” between faiths, The Moscow Times reported. 

Al-Suqaylabiyah is a Greek Orthodox Christian-majority city in the central Syrian province of Hama.