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The armed rebels have turned the Armenian church of Kessab into a gathering place, Hasmik Manjikyan-Berberyan, who fled Kessab to neighboring Latakia, told Panorama.am. 

“They have opened the Turkish border, which is very close to Kessab, and removed the barbed wires. They come by cars from Turkey and loot our houses. No one hinders them,” she said, adding that the looters also burn the houses.

Some 600 families were evacuated from Armenian-populated town of Kessab in Syria following the attacks by gunmen who entered the region from the Turkish border on March 22. The Armenian families have taken refuge in Latakia. “We do our best to help them. The Armenians have taken refuge in the Armenian church and Armenian organizations in Latakia, located about 50 km south of Kessab,” Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus, told Panorama.am on Monday.

“The people fled without taking anything with them – they have neither clothes nor first necessity items. Fortunately, there are no reports about victims. We should thank the administrative authorities of Kessab for evacuating them and taking to Latakia. First of all, we have organized humanitarian assistance: we are providing the refugee families with mattresses, blankets and household items.”

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Monday that the Embassy of Armenia in Syria works on the program of measures to support the Armenians in Kessab. The program will be implemented in a full scale.

Spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh President David Babayan said the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is prepared to support Armenians from Kessab in every way possible, including by creating conditions for them to live in Nagorno-Karabakh.