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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   29 March 2024

Militants establish control over Kesab's Baghjaghas Armenian village

Militants establish control over Kesab's Baghjaghas Armenian village

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS: The armed groupings established control over the Armenian village nearby the Syria’s Kesab on March 27. The resident of Kesab Nanor Karapetyan told Armenpress about it, adding that the militants move towards the sea. Our compatriot also informed that the population of the village moved to Latakia like the other people of the nearby villages. At the moment no population have left in Baghjaghas.
Information has been spread that the Turkish tanks and helicopters crossed the Turkish-Syrian border to support the forces of the Syria’s Free Army fighting in the area of Kesab. The Turkish military planes implement flights on the frontline and the wounded of the Free Army are moved to Turkey by Turkish transport means.
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.
More than 700 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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