Al Azhar chief slams attacks on mosques in Syria

Shaikh Ahmad Al Tayeb of Al Azhar, the Sunni world’s influential religious institution, has condemned attacks on mosques and worshippers in Syria in Ramadan. “I am confident that those aggressors will be punished in this world and the hereafter,” the top cleric was quoted as saying in local newspapers on Monday. Syrian security forces have intensified their raids on mosques since the start of Ramadan on August 1, according to activists. In the latest attack Friday night security forces stormed a mosque in Damascus and injured scores of worshippers including an aged imam of the mosque, said opposition groups.