Originally Posted by
Aett_Thorn
But that's where you are wrong. It DOES count as an attack for the purposes of the spell. BECAUSE it IS an attack. If it's an attack, but doesn't count as an attack by the spell, that's when you start getting inconsistencies. Because then you could start considering other attacks that might not be affected by Santuary.
Sanctuary counts it as an attack because the rules clearly state that it is an attack. There's really no other way to see it based on RAW and the Specific > General rule