An Armenian Syrian pastor, whose family is from Kessab, close to Syria’s northern border with Turkey, has reported that they fled the village after Syrian rebel jihadists took control of the area on March 21.
The Armenian pastor wrote that the day after the al-Qaeda-linked fighters took control, most of the town’s population (some 650 families, over 3000 individuals) fled into the hills or had taken refuge in the coastal city of Latakia, about 50km south of Kessab. Nothing has been heard since from those who remained to guard family properties.
Armenian media sources have claimed 80 Armenians were killed in the assault. The pastor wrote: ‘In taking over control, churches were desecrated, houses pillaged and government buildings destroyed’. Many internally displaced Syrians had already taken refuge in the Kessab area, since it is located in the Alawite-dominated region of Latakia, which has been relatively calm over the past three years.
