On December 5, Saint Sargis Armenian Church in Damascus, Syria, hosted a memorial service for victims of 1988 Spitak earthquake.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Syria Arshak Poladyan, diplomats of the Armenian embassy and representatives of the Armenian community were attending.

On December 7, 1988, 11 a.m. local time, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook north-western Armenia and was followed four minutes later by a magnitude 5.8 aftershock. The great disaster leveled the towns of Gyumri and Spitak to the ground, leaving 100 thousand people dead and over 500 homeless. A lot of others became crippled. Spitak earthquake is in the list of the world's biggest catastrophes.