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3000 SYRIAN CHRISTIANS FLEE ARMENIAN VILLAGE AS ISLAMIST REBELS TAKE CONTROL
ChristianToday
March 28 2014
Reports of desecrated churches, looted houses: locals blame Turkish
complicity
By: World Watch Monitor
An Armenian Syrian pastor, whose family is from Kessab, close to
Syria's northern border with Turkey, has reported that they have
fled the village after Syrian rebel jihadists took control of the
area. The fighting in the predominantly Armenian Christian town started
Friday March 21st. World Watch Monitor has seen a letter in which he
said fighters of the Al-Nusra front and ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq
and Sham - greater Syria) entered North West Syria from Turkey and
progressively took control over the town the same day.
Kessab is about 10Km from the Mediterranean, and the most northern
Syrian town near the coast.
The Armenian pastor writes 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."
He writes that 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.
Sources who contacted the Religious Liberty Commission of the World
Evangelical Alliance say the Syrian Army launched a counter offensive
on Saturday 22 March. The RLC's report reads: "On Sunday 23 March
jihadist reinforcements arrived. The remaining Armenians were taken
hostage as homes were looted and churches desecrated. That afternoon,
Turkish fighter jets shot down a Syrian Air Force MIG-23 jet that
was assisting SAA ground forces in repelling the jihadists".
According to Turkey, the MIG-23 was 1.2km inside Turkish airspace,
but Syria denies this.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - a UK-based activist group -
said initial reports from the area suggested the plane came down on
the Syrian side of the border.
The downing of the Syrian Airforce plane has been interpreted by local
Armenians as complicity by Turkey in the Islamist rebels' advance,
stirring as it does memories of the Armenian genocide by Turkey a
hundred years ago. Indeed, the pastor wrote: "it not only reminds us
(of this), this is the continuation of the previous genocide."
However the Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan said "A Syrian plane
violated our airspace. Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why?
because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard."
The BBC's James Reynolds says that Turkey has broadly sided with the
rebels since their war started in October 2011: Turkey shares an 800
Kilometres-long border with Syria.
Today, Thursday 27th March, Turkey has blocked access to YouTube
after a video was posted there, apparently showing members of its
government discussing military tactics linked to the war in Syria.
(Armenia, which borders Turkey, was the first population in the world
to accept Christianity as its 'national' religion, even before the
Roman Emperor Constantine did).
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/3000-syrian-christians-flee-armenian-village-as-islamist-rebels-take-control/17091.htm
ChristianToday
March 28 2014
Reports of desecrated churches, looted houses: locals blame Turkish
complicity
By: World Watch Monitor
An Armenian Syrian pastor, whose family is from Kessab, close to
Syria's northern border with Turkey, has reported that they have
fled the village after Syrian rebel jihadists took control of the
area. The fighting in the predominantly Armenian Christian town started
Friday March 21st. World Watch Monitor has seen a letter in which he
said fighters of the Al-Nusra front and ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq
and Sham - greater Syria) entered North West Syria from Turkey and
progressively took control over the town the same day.
Kessab is about 10Km from the Mediterranean, and the most northern
Syrian town near the coast.
The Armenian pastor writes 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."
He writes that 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.
Sources who contacted the Religious Liberty Commission of the World
Evangelical Alliance say the Syrian Army launched a counter offensive
on Saturday 22 March. The RLC's report reads: "On Sunday 23 March
jihadist reinforcements arrived. The remaining Armenians were taken
hostage as homes were looted and churches desecrated. That afternoon,
Turkish fighter jets shot down a Syrian Air Force MIG-23 jet that
was assisting SAA ground forces in repelling the jihadists".
According to Turkey, the MIG-23 was 1.2km inside Turkish airspace,
but Syria denies this.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - a UK-based activist group -
said initial reports from the area suggested the plane came down on
the Syrian side of the border.
The downing of the Syrian Airforce plane has been interpreted by local
Armenians as complicity by Turkey in the Islamist rebels' advance,
stirring as it does memories of the Armenian genocide by Turkey a
hundred years ago. Indeed, the pastor wrote: "it not only reminds us
(of this), this is the continuation of the previous genocide."
However the Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan said "A Syrian plane
violated our airspace. Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why?
because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard."
The BBC's James Reynolds says that Turkey has broadly sided with the
rebels since their war started in October 2011: Turkey shares an 800
Kilometres-long border with Syria.
Today, Thursday 27th March, Turkey has blocked access to YouTube
after a video was posted there, apparently showing members of its
government discussing military tactics linked to the war in Syria.
(Armenia, which borders Turkey, was the first population in the world
to accept Christianity as its 'national' religion, even before the
Roman Emperor Constantine did).
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/3000-syrian-christians-flee-armenian-village-as-islamist-rebels-take-control/17091.htm