Second Arson Attack This Month Hits Damascus’s Old Jewish Cemetery

Unknown attackers set a fire at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Damascus for the second time this month, according to a report by Roi Kais on Kan 11. The cemetery is in Syria’s capital, and rescue crews from the authorities were filmed at the scene working to extinguish the blaze.

The flames burned part of the cemetery’s ground, but the article did not specify the full extent of the damage. The attack adds to repeated attempts to damage the site since the rise of Syria’s new leadership under Ahmad al-Sharaa.

In April 2025, vandals desecrated the grave of Rabbi Chaim Vital, a kabbalist and disciple of the Ari, in what appeared to be an attempt to steal his remains. That damage was later repaired.

The article says the Syrian authorities have recently tried to project a more tolerant image toward Syria’s Jewish heritage and the small Jewish community still remaining there, as part of an effort to appeal to the West and the United States and to counter claims that the new rulers are extremist jihadists.