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YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS: The Armenians of Lebanon announced strike through the whole territory of Lebanon on April 1 thus expressing their complaint against Turkey and supporting the Armenians of Kesab. The Lebanese “Aztag” Daily informed Armenpress about it. In this way the Armenians of Lebanon joined protests organized from Yerevan to the United States, Europe and Australia where Turkey's role in support to the organizational activities to arm the terrorists, finance and invade Syrian territories is under special focus by the states and international organizations. As a sign of protest shops, educational institutions and workplaces were closed in the Armenian-populated regions of Lebanon on April 1. The Lebanese-Armenian pupils in assistance with their teachers organize protests with the supportive banners of the Armenians of Kesab.
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.