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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   28 March 2024

250 Kesab Armenians moved to Latakia Church

250 Kesab Armenians moved to Latakia Church

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS: The Armenians of the town-village Kesab of Syria, set now in Latakia, are safe with the assistance of the Armenian Church and the Armenian benevolent unions. A Kesab resident Vrezh Garamartian made a note about it in his Facebook page. “Concerning Kesab, I would like to inform that people did not suffer.  The entire population was moved to Latakia. Many Armenian families are staying with relatives and friends, while others have sought refuge in the Armenian Church and the church’s hall. All the unions and organizations of Latakia work actively to provide for all the necessary living conditions. Different organizations, charity unions, state structures and private benefactors of Latakia have united around the problem. Do not worry. The helping hands are many. Kesab should restore and the Kesab people should live”, - said Garamartian, Armenpress reports.
According to the Armenian Weekly, the armed incursion began on Friday, March 21, 2014 with rebels associated with Al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front, Sham al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham crossing the Turkish border and attacking the Armenian civilian population of Kesab. The attackers immediately seized two guard posts overlooking Kesab, including a strategic hill known as Observatory 45 and later took over the border crossing point with Turkey. Snipers targeted the civilian population and launched mortar attacks on the town and the surrounding villages.
According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers crossed the Turkish border with Syria openly passing through Turkish military barracks. According to Turkish media reports, the attackers carried their injured back to Turkey for treatment in the town of Yayladagi.
Some 670 Armenian families, the majority of the population of Kesab, were evacuated by the local Armenian community leadership to safer areas in neighboring Basit and Latakia. Ten to fifteen families with relations too elderly to move were either unable to leave or chose to stay in their homes.
On Saturday, March 22, Syrian troops launched a counteroffensive in an attempt to regain the border crossing point, eye-witnesses and state media reported. However, on Sunday, March 23, the extremist groups once again entered the town of Kesab, took the remaining Armenian families hostage, desecrated the town’s three Armenian churches, pillaging local residences and occupying the town and surrounding villages.
Located in the northwestern corner of Syria, near the border with Turkey, Kesab had, until very recently evaded major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population had increased in recently years with the city serving as safe-haven for those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo.








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