Hama 1982 – The Syrian massacre you never heard about

In 1982 the Syrian government killed 30,000 – 40,000 of its own citizens. Assad leveled an entire city with an air bombardment followed by artillery and tank fire. Why? They were anti Baath party, and apparently in 1982 in Syria that was a death sentence…

CAUTION: Graphic descriptions of atrocities in the article
Source


“The residents of a Syrian city named Hama had been more persistent in their criticisms of the dictator than other towns. For that reason,

Hafez Assad decided that Hama would be the staging point of the example he was to make to the Syrian people. In the twilight hours of February the 2nd, 1982, the city of Hama was awakened by loud explosions. The Syrian air force had begun to drop their bombs from the dark sky.

The initial bombing run cost the city few casualties. It's main purpose had been to disable the roads so that no-one could escape. Earlier in the night, Syrian tanks and artillery systems had surrounded Hama. With the conclusion of the air bombing run, the tanks and artillery began their relentless shelling of the town.

The cost in human lives was severe. As homes crumbled upon their living occupants and the smell of charred skin filled the streets, a few residents managed to escape the shelling and started to flee. They were met by the Syrian army which had surrounded the city ... they were all shot dead.

Hours of shelling had turned Hama into rubble. The tanks and artillery had done all that they could. The next wave of attacks came in the form of Syrian soldiers. They quickly converged onto the town killing anything that would move. Groups of soldiers would round up men, women, and children only to shoot them in the back of the head. Many other soldiers would invade homes with the orders to kill all inhabitants.

After the majority of the people in Hama were dead, the soldiers began looting. They would take all that they could from the now empty homes. Some were seen picking through the dead civilians looking for money, watches, and rings.

With their mission completed and their pockets filled with loot, the soldiers began to retreat from the city. One would think that would have been the last wave of the attacks. It was not. The final attack on Hama was the most gruesome. To make sure that no person was left alive in the rubble and buildings, the Syrian army brought in poison gas generators. Cyanide gas filled the air of Hama. Bulldozers were later used to turn the city into a giant flat area.
The Syrian government death count was place at around 20,000 people dead ... but the Syrian Human Rights Committee estimates it to be much higher, at somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 civilians’ dead or missing…”


They used POISON gas on them? Those poor people.

You really need to read this entire report. Survivors speak of being shot standing over pits with piles and piles of dead bodies. The ones that survived played dead until the government soldiers left. The purging of these people and the stories the survivors tell reminds me of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. The Assad regime has clearly perpetrated some of the grizzliest war crimes of our times. Let hope the Assad and their savage practices can be stopped or overthrown before this happens again…

there are sectarian reasons behind it too...
The inhabitants of Hama are Sunni... the president is Allawi although the allawites are a minority in Syria
It's all too natural the sunnis won't be happy about that

This thread got me interested in finding more. One of the first links I came across is this:

n February 1982 the secular Syrian government of President Hafez al-Assad faced a mortal threat from Islamic extremists, who sought to topple the Assad regime. How did it respond? President Assad identified the rebellion as emanating from Syria's fourth-largest city — Hama — and he literally leveled it, pounding the fundamentalist neighborhoods with artillery for days. Once the guns fell silent, he plowed up the rubble and bulldozed it flat, into vast parking lots. Amnesty International estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, were killed in the merciless crackdown. Syria has not had a Muslim extremist problem since.

www.mafhoum.com...

So according to that is was done to get rid of terrorists?

Seems a bit dtrange to destroy a whole town because of it. The author of the article goes on to say that this is not the way to deal with terrorists.

Although many on these boards seem to support such action against Muslims.

It sounds like they were trying to fight Islamic terrorists.
I'm surprised that you don't support their actions.

Judging by some of your posts I expected you to advocate even more actions like this.

Here's some background on the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood:

en.wikipedia.org...

In 1970, General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, seized power; in 1973 violent demonstrations broke out again in response to a proposed constitution that did not require the president to be a Muslim. Syria's intervention in the Lebanese civil war in 1976 on the side of the Maronites (and hence technically on the side of Israel) sparked renewed agitation in Syria, and assassinations began to target members of the Syrian regime and prominent Alawites; the Muslim Brotherhood later claimed responsibility for most of these. (Carré 1983, 131-135, 156; ICG 11 February 2004, 3-4)

On 16 June 1979, the Muslim Brotherhood carried out an attack on an artillery school in Aleppo, killing 83 Alawite cadets. The government responded by sentencing about 15 prisoners, who had already been accused of being Iraqi agents, to death for belonging to the Islamic resistance movement. Terrorist attacks then became a daily occurrence, particularly in Aleppo and other northern cities.

--snip--

In June 1980, the Brotherhood tried and failed to assassinate president Assad. The military retaliated by massacring between 500 and 1,100 prisoners, mostly Muslim Brothers or others allied with them, in the prison of Palmyra. The Syrian public did not find out about this until January 1981, when some of the soldiers who had carried out the massacre were arrested in Jordan for attempting to assassinate the Jordanian prime minister, Mudar Badran, who the Syrian government accused of supporting the Brotherhood, and an interrogation of the soldiers was broadcast on Jordanian television. (Carré 1983, 146-148)

--snip--

In August, September and November 1981, the Brotherhood carried out three car-bomb attacks against government and military targets in Damascus, killing hundreds of people, according to the official press. On 2 February 1982, the Brotherhood led a major insurrection in Hama, rapidly taking control of the city; the military responded by bombing Hama (whose population was about 250,000) throughout the rest of the month, killing between 10,000 and 30,000 people. The tragedy of Hama marked the defeat of the Brotherhood, and the militant Islamic movement in general, as a political force in Syria. (Carré 1983, 159; ICG 11 February 2004, 4)

^ Kriz he didn't get rid of terrorists only
he got rid of the entire opposition, no one even dared to go against him afterwards... Until his son came to power

Your consistency Aceofbase is uncanny.

You don’t even touch the actual topic: The Syrian government slaughtered up to 40,000 of its own people and all you can muster is a hate response? Not one comment about the death of these people. Typical... Actually, your response can be construed as you agree with the slaughter, as you immediately post information about the dead people and what group some of them may have belonged to that led to their death.

Good job Ace: Approving of the mass government slaughter of 40,000 people.

Originally posted by skippytjc
Your consistency Aceofbase is uncanny.

You don’t even touch the actual topic:

I thought the topic was about what happened in Hana so that's what I posted about.

The reasons that you gave for the Hana attack, "Why? They were anti Baath party", seem to be incorrect.

They had launched terrorist attacks, killed members of the Government and attempted to assissinate the leader of Syria. In addition to that, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood siezed control of Hana. That's why they went in there, not because they were anti Baath party.

I don't approve of wha they did but we don't even know if it occured the way they said it did. That site you pointed to already misrepresented some of what happened so how do we know they didn't embellish on other aspects of the story?

Look at the stories they're telling about the US troops using chemical weapons. If you believe the story you posted without question then I guess you'll have to accept the stories about US forces also. Or maybe you'll have to realize that sometimes people do embellish and exaggerate.

[edit on 22-7-2005 by AceOfBase]

Are you kidding me !!!
Those in Hama were the most and the worst fanatic terrorist like we see in Hamas and Al-Queda and the terrorist in Afghanistan Pakistan Indonesia Algeria … who "cut heads" , the only one until now who dealt with Islam and its terrorist doctrine is the Syrian regime , I always “cold my heart” when I read how the alawit Syrian crushed “once and for all” those terrorist islamist murderers , you can sell that “human rights crap” of yours to the naïve and the idiots . conclusion … I hope in the future the same measures that the Syrian took would be implemented at a boarder range and by everybody.

The majority Sunni Muslims are ruled by the minority Shiite Alawites in Syria. What is ironic is that Syria's Assad supports the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood "Hamas" but opposes the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood as has happened in Hama. Some have commented on this irony stating "The difference between Hama and Hamas is an 's' (ie referring to Syria)". Hypocrisy?

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

You seem like a somewhat smart cookie, you could probably see the obvious differences straight away