Synagogues in Dagestan, Russia, alongside churches, target of terrorist attacks

Two synagogues in Russia’s Dagestan region were attacked on Sunday as part of a coordinated and deadly attack on places of worship in two cities.

Gunmen attacked a synagogue in Makhachkala, while a 110-year-old synagogue in Derbent was burned down during the attack. The region’s small Jewish community dates back to the sixth century. The synagogue was the only one to survive in Derbent, a city of about 125,000 people, about 120 kilometers from the regional capital Makhachkala.

According to reports, no one was injured in the synagogues, but a priest, several civilians and police officers were killed in the attack.

The number and identity of the attackers was not immediately clear, and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the violence. Police arrested a local police chief after reports that his sons were involved in the attack and continued to search for “foreign-trained sleeper cells,” according to Russian state news service TASS.

The attacks follow a deadly bombing at a Moscow concert hall in March, which Russia blames on Ukraine, with which it is at war, although a branch of the Islamist terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility.

Dagestan is a Muslim-majority republic in southern Russia, bordering Georgia. In late October, hundreds of people stormed the tarmac of Makhachkala airport as a flight arrived from Israel. They reportedly shouted anti-Semitic slogans and forced authorities to close the airport. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who did not immediately comment on the recent attacks, also claimed without evidence that Ukraine had staged the unrest.

Rabbi Alexander Boroda, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, condemned the recent terrorist attack in a statement and said the Jewish community mourns the victims of the attack.

“We need to restore not only quiet life, but also the synagogues in Makhachkala and Derbent,” where the Torah scrolls were destroyed in the fire, Boroda said.

The Derbent Synagogue, also known as Kele-Numaz, was built in 1914 by order of the Mountain Jews of the Caucasus region and was rededicated in 2010 after most of the 30,000 Jews who had lived in Dagestan following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 emigrated to Israel.

Although details remained murky from Russia, which has been largely cut off from the West since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some Jewish groups abroad condemned the attack on Sunday.

“An attack on the right of individuals to practice their faith freely and openly is an attack on humanity,” the World Jewish Congress said in a statement. “As we await further information on the attackers’ motives, we are reminded of the danger posed by anti-Semitism and all religiously motivated violence.”