The First and Second Battles of Kassab in Latakia (2012-2013)

The Syrian town of Kassab on the border with Turkey and in north Latakia province has been subject to attack from the insurgents multiple times during the war that began in 2011-2012. The most notable instance was in spring 2014, when the insurgents (jihadists being prominent among them) seized control of Kassab, displacing the primarily Armenian Christian population. This is the only time in the war that the insurgents have reached the Mediterranean coastline, but the Syrian government soon regained control of Kassab. That battle was similar to the “A’isha Umm al-Mu’mineen” battle in Latakia in 2013 in the sense that it helped dampen Western enthusiasm for the insurgency, especially in light of acts of church desecration committed by jihadists and the displacement of the Christians.

The following post, put out by “Archive of the Battles and Martyrs of the Syrian Sahel,” concerns the lesser-known earlier attempts to take Kassab in late 2012 and early 2013 (the first and second battles of Kassab respectively). I have translated it below. The most important point to note is the role Turkish intelligence played in supporting the insurgents (among whom were foreign jihadists) in the first battle of Kassab, coordinating with them and allowing them to use Turkish territory for their operations. This underscores the role of Turkish intelligence in facilitating and abetting the insurgency (including jihadist elements) in a free-for-all environment in the north in the early years of the war. This contrasts with today’s Turkish policy in which the frontlines are generally frozen primarily because of Turkish-Russian understandings, insurgent actors are constrained by Turkey, and the Turkish government increasingly speaks of normalisation measures with the Syrian government.

Note that in the translation, any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.