[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 55 (Friday, April 4, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E517-E518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF KASSAB, SYRIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 4, 2014

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the people of 
Kassab, Syria. Their town was overtaken by Islamist rebels late last 
month. The town's inhabitants, who are largely Armenian Christians, 
have been forced by jihadist rebels to evacuate their homes and seek 
refuge in Lebanon and the nearby city of Latakia. I submit an article 
which ran in yesterday's Washington Post which paints a deeply 
disturbing picture of the events unfolding in Kassab.
  This is yet another case of Christians and other religious minorities 
being pulled into violent conflicts in the Middle East. Throughout the 
region, small and peaceful minority groups are often the first to 
suffer collateral damage, as we have seen in recent years not only in 
Syria, but also in Iraq, in Egypt, and elsewhere.
  It is especially poignant to recognize the people of Kassab at this 
time of year, since April 24 is the Genocide Remembrance Day observed 
by Armenians around the world to commemorate the atrocities committed 
against their people nearly a hundred years ago.
  I have advocated for a non-governmental bipartisan Syria Study Group 
to bring a fresh approach and possibly creative solutions forward to 
address the ongoing conflict in that country. It is inexcusable for the 
world to stand by while families are being driven from their homes, 
children are being killed and ancient communities' very existence 
threatened.

                [From the Washington Post, Apr. 2, 2014]

Syrian Armenians, Who Had Been Insulated From War, Forced To Flee After 
                            Rebel Offensive

                          (By Loveday Morris)

       Anjar, Lebanon.--Some fled in their nightclothes, others in 
     their farming boots straight from the fields. Many thought 
     they'd be able to return in a few hours but now fear they may 
     never again.
       Until the shells started raining down late last month, the 
     tiny Syrian village of Kassab and surrounding villages had 
     been largely sheltered from the three-year-old conflict that 
     has devastated other parts of Syria. But now the area is the 
     focus of a rebel offensive in the coastal province of 
     Latakia, and an accompanying social-media storm of 
     disinformation.
       Kassab, a lush, mountainous idyll abutting the Turkish 
     border, is an ancestral home of Syria's minority ethnic 
     Armenians, Christians who have lived on the land for a 
     millennium. But the attack by jihadist rebels sparked a mass 
     exodus from Kassab and nearby villages.
       The picturesque Armenian hillside villages in the north of 
     Latakia provide a foothold for a push into the rest of the 
     province--a heartland of Syria's minority Alawites, who are 
     largely supportive of President Bashar al-Assad.
       The area holds little other strategic value for the 
     opposition, but the limited gains there have boosted rebel 
     morale amid a string of defeats elsewhere, with the leader of 
     the main opposition body, Ahmad al-Jarba, making a rare visit 
     to Syria this week to tour the area and meet with fighters.
       The Armenian diaspora, including some celebrities, has 
     expressed outrage, demanding that the United States act to 
     protect the Armenian community in Syria. The State Department 
     has said it is ``deeply troubled'' by the developments.
       Some Syrian government loyalists have launched a propaganda 
     campaign accusing rebels of mass killings and desecrating 
     churches in the area, sparking fierce rebuttals from 
     opposition activists.
       But the people of Kassab, like the 7 million others who 
     have been displaced by the civil war, are focusing on trying 
     to rebuild their lives after being torn from their land. At 
     least 30 families have fled to neighboring Lebanon, seeking 
     refuge in the Armenian village of Anjar and in the capital, 
     Beirut, and the testimonies of more than a dozen shed some 
     light on the events surrounding the offensive.
       All but about 30 of the area's roughly 2,500 residents fled 
     within 48 hours of the attack, they said. The fate of those 
     who remained, who were too old or unwilling to leave, is 
     unknown, with communications to the villages cut. There was 
     no major loss of life, they say, with just one known death, 
     that of a local teacher who was hit in her car by a sniper as 
     she tried to flee. Still, the mass exodus is particularly 
     emotional, with Armenians from Kassab having been forced to 
     leave their homes twice in the past century because of 
     persecution by the Turks.
       The Armenians first fled during the Adana massacre of 1909, 
     when tens of thousands died at the hands of the Ottomans.
       Then, in 1915, as many as 5,000 residents of Kassab died 
     during the fracturing empire's murderous campaign against the 
     Armenians, which is widely recognized as a genocide.
       ``Now it's 2014, and we are being displaced again,'' said a 
     41-year-old farmer's wife who arrived in Lebanon a week ago. 
     Like others fleeing the loyalist area, she spoke on the 
     condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals if she and her 
     family return.
       ``But thank God that this time there is no massacre,'' she 
     said. ``We believe that, as Armenians, what doesn't kill you 
     makes you stronger.''
       Once again, the Armenians see the hand of their long-
     standing enemy behind their displacement, saying the rebel 
     attack was launched from Turkish soil. Many of the farms and 
     homes in what was once a popular tourist spot offer sweeping 
     views of the Turkish border.
       The offensive, they say, began about 5 a.m. on March 21, 
     with villagers waking to the sound of heavy machine-gun fire, 
     followed by shelling.
       Two Syrian border posts were first struck, according to the 
     accounts of several residents. With the posts manned only by 
     lightly armed Syrian border police, residents said there was 
     little in the way of defense against the push by jihadist 
     rebel groups, which included the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-
     Nusra and the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham.
       Not long after, the main border crossing to Turkey fell, 
     residents said.
       Villagers had prepared evacuation plans. In case of an 
     attack, instructions were for women and children to 
     congregate in Nabaeen, a village farthest from the Turkish 
     border, with a back road to the city of Latakia.
       By 7 a.m., one Nabaeen farmer said, about 50 people had 
     gathered at his house. ``People were crying and yelling that 
     they had nothing with them. Some were in their slippers and 
     pajamas,'' he said. ``It was a sad situation.''
       Despite the chaos, many grabbed the deeds to their houses--
     an instinct, they say, for a people with a history of 
     displacement. Some of the men stayed behind to see how the 
     situation developed.
       ``We left all our valuables and had nothing more than the 
     clothes we were wearing,'' said one 40- year-old mother of 
     three. As the shelling picked up, by 11 a.m. most of the 
     families had left Nabaeen for the safety of Latakia, 35 miles 
     south, as Syrian army reinforcements made their way north.
       By March 23, the rebels had reached the center of Kassab. 
     Villagers point to Turkey's shooting down of a Syrian jet 
     attempting to hit the invading fighters later that day as 
     further evidence of Turkish support for rebels.
       A Turkish diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity 
     because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that no 
     rebels are ``deliberately'' allowed to use the Turkish border 
     and that if there was shelling into Kassab from Turkey on 
     March 21, it was because of new rules of engagement, which 
     allow the country's armed forces to retaliate when fired at 
     to deter further attacks.
       Turkey also said that the jet it shot down had strayed into 
     its airspace.
       Jihadist fighters who entered Kassab have gone to great 
     lengths to stress that they are not desecrating churches or 
     hurting civilians.
       The mother of three said that after she arrived in Latakia 
     with her children, she called home, and a man who identified 
     himself as a member of Ja`hat al-Nusra answered.
       ``He said, 'Come back, why did you leave your home? We have 
     come here to protect you,' '' she recalled, though she added 
     that he later said she should convert to Islam before 
     returning. ``I pleaded with him, `Eat and drink whatever you 
     like, but please don't destroy the house.' ''
       But Kassab's displaced residents are not convinced by the 
     jihadists' assurances, and some fear they will never be able 
     to feel safe

[[Page E518]]

     in the area again, even if the government succeeds in pushing 
     out the rebels.
       One farmer, who sold his car in Latakia to afford the 
     journey to Lebanon, said his grandmother survived a notorious 
     death march from the village to the city of Horns during the 
     genocide but still returned to Kassab.
       This time, he's not sure his family will make it back.
       ``Our roots are there, everything is there,'' his wife 
     said, ``but we can't.''

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