11 Facts About Kessab

Kessab, Kesab or Kasab is a mostly Armenian populated town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Latakia Governorate, located 59 kilometers north of Latakia.

Administratively, Kessab belongs to the Latakia District; one of the governorate's four Manatiq, and the centre of Kessab nahiyah sub-district.

Town of Kessab is 59 kilometres north of Latakia, just 1 kilometre southwest of the border with Turkey, and 7 kilometers east of the Mediterranean Sea.

Kessab is an ancient Armenian settlement, dating back to the period of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

Region of Kessab was part of the ancient civilization that spread from the Syrian coasts up to the Orontes River, six millennia ago.

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On 15 June 2014, the Syrian Army entered Kessab and retook control over the surrounding villages and the border with Turkey.

News agencies and local residents of Kessab reported that the town's Armenian Catholic and Evangelical churches had been ruined and burnt by the Islamist groups, along with the Misakyan Cultural Centre.

Around 250 families from Kessab who had taken refuge in Latakia returned to their homes a day after the Syrian Army recaptured the town.

In 1939, after the new definition of the Syrian-Turkish border, the Armenians of Kessab lost the Barlum Monastery; their traditional site of pilgrimage, which fell on the Turkish side.

Therefore, the Armenians of Kessab built a small chapel in Esguran to become the new site of the celebrations of the Assumption of Virgin Mary.

In 1909, as a result of the Turkish attack, the Armenian refugees from the surrounding villages of Kessab region, found refuge in the monastery and latterly moved to the village of Basit, aided by the monks of the monastery.