During the Armenian Genocide , the Ottoman Empire used the Syrian desert of Deir ez-Zor as the main killing fields of Armenians . The native Arabs sheltered and supported the Armenians . A memorial complex commemorating this tragedy was opened in the city of Deir ez-Zor . It was designed by Sarkis Balmanoukian and was officially inaugurated in 1990 with the presence of the Armenian Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia . The complex contains bones and remnants recovered from the Deir ez-Zor desert of Armenian victims of the Genocide and has become a pilgrim destination for many Armenians in remembrance of their dead , before being partially destroyed by ISIL
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Armenia–Syria relations