The members of the large Armenian community in Kessab, a town in northern Syria that they had to leave in the spring of 2014 while the jihadist forces took control, with almost said Turkish support, have found a city devastated, bearing the marks of vandalism Turks who have worked hard on their churches. Back for nearly a year in their town liberated by Syrian loyalist forces and their allies, the testimonies of Armenian inhabitants
Syria: Residents Speak Out Against Turkish Vandalism in Kessab
Destroyed buildings in Kessab. (Source: Public Radio of Armenia)
KESSAB (Public Radio of Armenia) — Residents of the Armenian community in the Syrian town Kessab spoke out about the vandalism of Turks against local churches, Interfax Religion reports.
“Kessab’s centers of Armenian culture – our churches- especially suffered from actions of Islamists and Turks. When I came here for ministry after the town had been released, I saw bare walls remained from the once flourishing church,” the priest of the local Armenian protestant church Zhirajr Gazaryan was quoted by the Rossijskaya Gazeta daily.
Akop, head of a Kessab Armenian family, told that militants from Tunisia lived in his house during the occupation.
“Turkey played a great role in our troubles. When Jabhad an-Nusra invaded Kessab, entire divisions of the Turkish special operations’ forces rushed into the town together with Salafi. Local guards saved residents of the town from a new genocide of Armenians. They started a battle against bandits, which gave local people time for leaving the town. However, when Turks seized the town, they brought here residents of their neighboring villages who loaded all valuable things we had in trucks, trailers, tractors, carts and just drove it to Turkey,” he said.
About 200 residents of the Syrian town of Salma were driven to Saudi Arabia and no one has heard anything about them ever since.
“Salafis rushed into the houses and shot men. They just ordered women and children to turn away and then there were shots fired. Only old men and those who understood what was going on managed to survive and ran from the village to the valley. There were few of them. They killed almost all of us,” 78-year-old Harun Dijib said.
Watch Ash Carter Lie About Why He Let Turkey Supply ISIL with Oil (Video)
“Of course we knew about these trucks with stolen oil”…
One of the most embarrassing things to come out of the Russian military venture in Syria is the huge convoy supply lines of oil moving between Turkey and ISIS positions.
Watch America’s finest mumble their way through explanations of why they have let this go on for two years.
Priceless.
https://youtu.be/9MAmeAtzKms
Syria: Turkish Supported Al-Nusra terrorist destroys churches, desecrates cemeteries in Latakia
Al-Nusra Front has destroyed the churches of Syrian village of Ghnemye in Latakia’s north, Arevelk cited one of the residents as saying.
Upon returning to the town, the resident found his home demolished.
“The Armenian and Evangelical churches of the village have been completely destroyed, with cemeteries desecrated,” Arevelk said.
Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that four years on has grown to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured. Some 11,5 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad – including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.
Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the U.S., UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran have pro-Assad forces on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes.
Sadad: Small Syrian Christian Town that Refused to Bow Down to Terror
Hundreds of Christian fighters from across Syria joined their local brethren in the majority-Syriac Christian town of Sadad to prevent it falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
A symbol of Christian resistance, Sadad, which lies just 17 kilometers off a strategic highway connecting the capital Damascus and Homs in the west of the country, has faced an onslaught from Daesh and other jihadist militants since late October 2015 as the terrorists advanced across central Syria.
The military command and members of the local militia are fully aware of the fact that the fall of this Orthodox Christian town would effectively cut off Damascus from the rest of the country.
When al-Nusra militants seized the town in 2013 Syria’s Christians chose to stay away from what they sew as a conflict between Sunnis and Shiites.
It wasn’t until the jihadists ransacked the ancient Christian monastery at Maaloula that they finally realized that the very same fate awaited their own community.
Shortly afterwards, seven militant Muslim groups joined forces in laying siege to Sadad.
As the jihadists prepared to storm the town its defenders decided to fight to the bitter end. And fight they did until the Syrian Army arrived and drove out the enemy.
With Sadad liberated, the town’s defenders are now setting their sights on Al-Karyatein – another Christian town and the terrorist’s last remaining stronghold in Homs province.
The militants took many locals hostage and threatened to kill them all if the Army decided to storm the town. All of the Christian hostages are now free having either run away or were ransomed out.
After the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber in November many in Sadad gathered in the local churches to pray for the Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov who was killed in that unwarranted attack.
Sadad is a peaceful town now, but traces of the recent fighting are everywhere with many houses on the town’s central square pockmarked with deep gouges from ricochets and direct gunfire.
SYRIA The Armenian village of Al-released Ghanimeh Liberated from Turkish Terrorist
The Syrian army after the liberation of several villages in the province of Latakia, released that of Al-Ghanimeh, a village populated by Armenians whose inhabitants fled four years ago when terrorist groups have entered the zoned.
According to several sources a number of terrorists were killed or injured in the operation of government forces.
The jihadists withdrew the cross of the Armenian Church.
Saturday, January 30, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com
Stéphane © armenews.com
Did US VP Biden Guarantee Turkey annexion of Mosul, Trouble Brewing in Syria Preparing for Advance?
US Vice President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Turkey indicates that Washington is not inclined to pressure Ankara into halting its anti-Kurdish crackdown nor its military deployments near the rich Iraqi oilfields of Mosul, F. William Engdahl notes.
On January 24 US Vice President Joseph Biden held intensive meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
F. William Engdahl, American-German researcher, historian and strategic risk consultant, believes that the Obama administration manipulates both the ambitious Turkish President Erdogan and the impulsive Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, indulging their militarism and greed.
“The Washington game seems to be to give the Saudi-Turkish duo enough rope to hang themselves in a mad power grab of Syrian and Iraqi oil riches and perhaps, if they are really mad enough, of Iran’s oilfields too,” the researcher remarks in his article for New Eastern Outlook.
Anyway, Biden’s visit has indicated clearly that Washington still supports the Erdogan regime and is turning a blind eye to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Turkish and Syrian Kurds by Ankara “thinly veiled” as a war against PKK (the Kurdistan Worker’s Party) and de facto occupation of Iraqi territories near Mosul by Turkey’s military.
Remarkably, Ankara has no scruples about equating the Syrian leadership, Kurdish PKK and YPG (People’s Defense Units), fighting terrorists in Syria, to Daesh (Islamic State/ISIL) and al-Qaeda’s affiliate al-Nusra Front.
According to Turkish PM Davutoglu, there are three threats in Syria: “One is the regime [of Bashar al-Assad], another is Daesh, and the third is the YPG,” he said as cited by Hurriyet, Turkey’s mainstream liberal media outlet.
“Turkey sees no difference between terrorists groups such as Daesh, PKK, DHKP-C [the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front] or al-Nusra,” Davutoglu added.
As for Turkey’s military deployments near the rich oilfields of Mosul, Deniz Zeyrek of Hurriyet reported Monday that during Joe Biden’s visit the Turkish side proposed a project to Washington “to calm Iraq’s unease.”
“According to the project, which found support from the US, NATO and the US anti-ISIL coalition will jointly operate at the training base in Bashiqa [a town in the Mosul District]. Nonetheless, no logistical change will be made at the base other than a sign showing that an international force is deployed there. The Iraqi army will be allowed to have a representative as part of the international coalition,” Zeyrek wrote, citing sources with the knowledge of the matter.
It seems that there are little if any contradictions between Ankara’s foreign policy in the region and Washington’s Middle Eastern agenda.
“In fact, Biden discussed US military support, unspecified, for a Turkish military move to take the oilfields of Mosul,” Engdahl notes.
“Further, the US Vice President apparently said not a word about the continuing illegal smuggling of Iraqi and Syrian oil by ISIS [Daesh] into Turkey where Erdogan’s son ships it to world markets, financing the ISIS terror inside Syria Biden claims to oppose,” he adds.
The researcher calls attention to the fact that Biden signaled that the United States and Turkey are ready to seek a military solution in Syria if the diplomatic Geneva talks fail.
“We do know that it would be better if we can reach a political solution but we are prepared — we are prepared if that’s not possible — to have a military solution to this operation in taking out Daesh,” Biden stated.
Interestingly enough, the statement came after US Defense Secretary Ashton’s announcement of the Pentagon’s new strategy in Syria that envisages more boots on the ground in the region. Furthermore, rumors are still simmering regarding the US increasing military deployments at the Syrian Rmeilan airfield.
Engdahl stresses that at the same time Turkey has gained more influence in the region.
“In March this year, as a result of collusion between the Saudi monarchy of Salman and Erdogan, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was coerced to hand over a vital political post to Erdogan,” he notes, explaining that Erdogan will soon lead the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a powerful and influential organization regarded by many as the Muslim ‘UN.’
According to the researcher, the ongoing preparations signal “something very big and very dramatic in the coming few months in the Middle East.”
Twin bomb blasts rip through Syria’s Qamishli, kill three
Two explosions rocked a neighborhood in Syria‘s Qamishli on Sunday, January 24, AINA reports.
The first targeted the Star Cafe, where a bomb was placed on a bicycle in front of the store. The explosion killed 3 Assyrians and injured 20. The second blast targeted Joseph Bakery, the Assyrian news portal says.
Two of the Assyrians killed have been identified as Morris Khajo and Fawzi al-Kaldani. Two of the injured are in critical condition.
In late December, three explosions went off in Qamishli, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens of others. The attacks were carried out Islamic State’s suicide bombers.
Daesh – another name for the Islamic State group – which occupies vast tracts of Iraq and Syria and is outlawed in many countries including Russia, has gained much notoriety. The jihadists conduct suicide bombings and other attacks worldwide.
The group, outlawed in a range of countries, including Russia, has forced thousands of people, mostly religious minorities, to flee their homes.
Armenian village in Syria is liberated from Turkish terrorists
The Syrian army liberated several villages—including primarily Armenian-populated Ghnemiyeh village—in the Latakia Governorate from terrorists.
As a result of terrorist attacks, the residents of this village were forced to leave their homes four years ago, according to Kantsasar Armenian newspaper of Syria.
Around 60 to 70 thousand Armenians lived in Syria before the start of the civil war in the country. More than half of these Armenians resided in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, and the rest lived in capital city Damascus and several other towns.
Syria: Trial of Kurdish fighters have damaged property
The main Syrian Kurdish militia said Tuesday it arrested four of its fighters accused of damaged properties in a community decision to jihadist Islamic State Group (EI).
This news comes after accusations of activists and Amnesty International on abuse of Kurdish forces against Arab residents in areas listed in EI in northern Syria.
In a statement, the Kurdish people’s Protection Units (YPG) indicate that four of its members were arrested “on charges of damaging property of citizens in al-Hol and surrounding villages” in the province of Hasaka (northeast).
“At the end of the investigation and interrogations, their membership of YPG was withdrawn and they will go on trial in court” the statement said.
The four defendants were identified by their initials and pictures of them taken back were broadcast.
Al-Hol was taken in November at the EI by a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
The arrests come in the wake of several reports of tensions between the YPG and the Arab inhabitants of the northern regions of Syria where the militia led battles against the IE with air support from the coalition led by the United STATES.
In October, Amnesty International accused the Kurdish forces to engage in forced displacement and destruction of homes in the north and northeast of the country consideration of these acts of “war crimes”.
The NGO claimed that they were carrying out “collective punishment campaigns” against residents, Arab majority, villages formerly held by the EI.
YPG had denounced these accusations and emphasized its alliance with Arab combatant groups which “removes any doubt” in their desire on any discrimination against an ethnic group.
Amnesty and activists also accused the Kurdish forces to prevent people from returning to their village after the EI has been driven.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) had recently reported demonstrations in Al-Hol people wanting to go home.
According to Kurdish forces, residents were not allowed to return during clearance operations or in places where the risk remained infiltration of IE.
Thursday, January 21, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com
Stéphane © armenews.com
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