Al-Nusra Front[1] Junud al-Sham[2] Harakat Sham al-Islam[1] Islamic Front[3] Free Syrian Army[4][5] Syrian Arab Republic Lt. Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub (Army Chief of staff)Hilal al-Assad † (Latakia NDF commander)[16] 571 killed (opposition claim)[22]50 killed (government claim; by 26 March)[23] Foreign intervention in behalf of Syrian rebels U.S.-led intervention against ISIL The 2014 Latakia offensive was a rebel offensive in the Latakia Governorate of Syria launched on 21 March 2014 by rebel Islamist groups including Al-Nusra Front, which called the offensive "Anfal",[1] while a coalition of Supreme Military Council rebel groups called the offensive "The Martyrs Mothers".

[39] Three days before the assault on Kessab, the leader of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, called on Chief of General Staff General Necdet Ozel "not to embark on an adventure" with a military intervention in Syria, saying that "He [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan] could decide to move the army into Syria before the elections.

Abdoullah Ali, an expert on Islamic groups in Syria, confirmed the takeover was headed by Abou Mousa al-Chechani (Chechnyan), among other senior and experienced fighters who had previously fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Iraq, thus indicating the importance of this battle.

[40] Human Rights Watch Syria and Lebanon researcher Lama Fakih told the UK Telegraph rebel groups had wanted to attack Kassab for a long time, but Turkey had previously denied them access, citing a lack of unity.

[41] In the early hours of 21 March 2014, rebel fighters led by the al-Nusra Front advanced from inside Turkish territory and attacked the Kasab border crossing with Turkey.

[3] Government forces launched a counter-attack in an attempt to recapture the crossing[49] and a security source stated the Army had retaken the previous day two police stations that were seized by the rebels.

[50] As fighting spread to other villages, the military responded with air strikes and ambushes which left 20 rebels dead and 30 wounded[51] around Observatory Kherbah Solas.

[52] On 23 March, Turkish Air Force F-16 jet fighters shot down a Syrian warplane that allegedly bombed rebels fighting around the border post.

[16] According to the rebel Islamic Front, he was killed when they used Grad rockets to hit a scheduled meeting of pro-government militia leaders in Latakia city.

[68] A military source denied the village had fallen stating that fighting was still ongoing and that the Army was in complete control of the mountains overlooking Al-Samra.

[69] According to the editor-in-ehief of Aztag Daily, information warfare was being conducted and that it was too early to conclude whether government forces managed to regain control of the town, but confirmed fighting was ongoing.

[48] Pro-government sources claimed 500 rebels[18] and 50 soldiers had been killed since the start of the offensive, while the SOHR stated around 100 fighters on each side had died.

It accused the Turkish government for "organizing, receiving, funding and hosting tens of thousands of terrorists from various Takfiri movements and facilitating their entry into the Syrian territories" and for providing the rebels with direct military support in the region.

[96] The SOHR confirmed the Army made progress in the area[97] and stated that government troops managed to install multiple rocket launcher on Observatory 45, but fighting was continuing in the vicinity of the hillside.

[101] On 2 April, according to the SOHR, the rebels reached the perimeter of al-Badrousiya village where violent clashes took place amid new Army reinforcements in that area.

[13] A local rebel commander was also killed in other clashes, while "dozens of bodies" of pro-government fighters were reportedly bussed to the city of Tartous, according to opposition activist's claims.

[104] But later activists reported that government forces, supported by the NDF, had managed to reach the peak of Observatory 45 and clashes ensued with opposition fighters, including Jabhat al-Nusra.

[106] On 4 April, the SOHR reported that 64 rebels, including 40 foreign fighters, and 35 government soldiers were killed in fighting for Observatory 45 over the previous two days.

50 soldiers were also wounded[107][108] and among rebel fatalities, beside the leader of Harakat Sham al-Islam, was the group's Egyptian military commander, Abu Safiya Al-Masri.

[111] On 5 April, after midnight, government troops ambushed rebels on the road towards Al-Nab'in resulting in a number of deaths among opposition fighters,[100] while two Moroccan field commanders of Ahrar Al-Sham were killed in fighting in Kasab.

[117][118] By 15 April, the FSA commander for Latakia province stated the offensive had stagnated after rebel forces had become exhausted due to the number of casualties they had endured and a shortage of ammunition.

[123] The next day, the military secured Chalma mountain and engaged rebels on top of Tal Al-Ahmar, while other government troops, including Special Forces from Al-Samra, advanced towards Al-Nab'in.

[138] On 15 June, the Syrian Army took control of Kasab, its border crossing, Al-Nab'in and Nab Al-Murr, fully reversing all opposition gains during the three-month campaign.

"[42] According to security sources in Kessab, the attacks were waged under heavy artillery cover by the Turkish army, while the injured were being carried back and treated in the city of Yayladagi in Turkey, which borders Syria.

Turkey denied the allegations as "totally unfounded and untrue", the Telegraph reported, but HRW's Fakih replied "it is not feasible that these groups could have crossed into Syria from where they did without the knowledge of the Turks.

[143] Istanbul-based journalist Amberin Zaman commented that the recently leaked audio tapes in which Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is heard discussing ways to spark a war with Syria might vindicate Kilicdaroglu's claims.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated, "All of us perfectly remember the history of Kessab, which was unfortunately full of hellish realities of deportations in the last 100 years", referring to both events.

[145] On 2 April, during a hearing before the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and in response to a question by Congressman Schiff, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, said that Kessab "is an issue of huge concern".

[40][141][147] Also on 3 April, Ruben Melkonyan, deputy dean of the Oriental Studies department at Yerevan State University, said that the Armenian community of Kessab was unlikely to recover and that what had happened were "crimes that make a genocide".

[40] Kessab Armenians who phoned their neighbors and relatives homes from Latakia discovered that their houses are already occupied by rebel fighters, who went on to taunt and threaten the refugees.