YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS: The UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman had a phone talk with the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I on March 27 on the occasion of the events recently taking place in the Syria’s Kesab Armenia-populated town-village. The press service of the Armenian Church Catholicosate of Cilicia told Armenpress that Jeffrey Feltman stated that UN is concerned over the events taking place in Kesab, adding that on this occasion he had meetings with the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, as well as the Armenian and Turkish Ambassadors to UN.

Aram I presented Jeffrey Feltman the current state of Kesab, emphasizing the importance of the Turkish factor. The Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia suggested the UN to discuss the opportunity to demilitarize the Kesab area. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs considered the suggestion of Aram I to be constructive, promising to discuss the issue with the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria. 

Previously it was reported that the armed incursion began on Friday, March 21, 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 Kessab. The attackers immediately seized two guard posts overlooking Kessab, 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. Over 700 Armenian families, the majority of the population of Kessab, 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 Kessab, 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, Kessab had, until very recently, evaded major battles in the Syrian conflict. The local Armenian population had increased in recent years with the city serving as safe-haven for those fleeing from the war-torn cities of Yacubiye, Rakka and Aleppo.