The Hama massacre occurred when the government of Syria attacked the town of Hama and killed thousands of people on February 2, 1982. Amnesty International claims that 10,000-25,000 were killed at Hama, though many figures exist and the number could be considerably smaller or larger than this. The Syrian government had made no official claim about the number killed at Hama. The Orontes River and norias in Hama Hama (Arabic: حماه) is a city which is located on the Orontes river in central Syria, north of the city of Homs, midway between Damascus and Aleppo. ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Amnesty International symbol Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) comprising a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.[1] Essentially it compares actual practices of human rights with internationally accepted standards and demands compliance where these have not...

Background

At the time the Middle East was in deep turmoil and Syria was deeply implicated in Lebanon's Civil War since 1976 and the beginning of the 1982 Lebanon War. Problems also arose from Turkey which mobilized troops on its borders with Syria primarily to deal with Kurdish rebels, and accused Syria of supporting and training the PKK rebels within Turkey. The Muslim Brotherhood used this situation started to defy Hafiz al-Assad's rule. It undertook guerrilla activities in multiple cities within the country targeting officers, government officials and infrastructures. The anti-regime violence included the killings of eighty-three young military cadets at an artillery school in Aleppo in June 1979, and three car bomb attacks in Damascus between August and November 1980 that killed several hundred people. In July 1980, membership in the Muslim Brotherhood was made a capital offense punishable by death, with the ratification of Law No. 49. Throughout the early 1980s the Muslim Brotherhood staged a series of bomb attacks against the government and its officials, including a nearly successful attempt to assassinate president Hafiz al-Assad on June 26, 1980, during an official state reception for the president of Mali. As a machine gun salvo missed him, al-Assad ran to kick a hand grenade aside, and his bodyguard sacrificed himself to smother the explosion of another one. Surviving with only light damages, al-Assad's revenge was swift and merciless: only hours later many hundreds of imprisoned Islamists were murdered in a massacre carried out by his brother Rifaat al-Assad in Tadmor Prison. Combatants Lebanese Front Syrian Army LNM PLO Commanders Bachir Gemayel Dany Chamoun Kamal Jumblatt Yasser Arafat The multi-sided Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) had its origin in the conflicts and political compromises after the end of Lebanons administration by the Ottoman Empire and was exacerbated by the nation... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Combatants Israel Phalange South Lebanon Army Amal PLO Syria Commanders Menachem Begin (Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon, (Ministry of Defence) Rafael Eitan, (CoS) Yasser Arafat Strength 76,000 37,000 Casualties 670 9,800 The 1982 Lebanon War (Hebrew: , Milkhemet Levanon, Milkhemet Levanon, Arabic: ‎), called by Israel the Operation Peace of... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... Muslim Brotherhood symbol. ... Hafez al-Assad (October 6, 1930 - June 10, 2000) was the President of Syria from 1971 to 2000. ... Distinguish from the type of ape called a gorilla. ... Old Town viewed from Aleppo Citadel Aleppo (or Halab Arabic: ‎ meaning he milked, ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... Damascus at sunset Damascus ( translit: Also commonly: الشام ash-Shām) is the largest city of Syria and is also the capital. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Hafez al-Assad (October 6, 1930 - June 10, 2000) was the President of Syria from 1971 to 2000. ... Image:Rifaat al-Assad. ... Tadmor prison is located in Palmyra (Tadmor, or Tadmur is the Arabic name for Palmyra) in the deserts of eastern Syria, approximately 200 kilometers northeast of Damascus. ...

The Massacre

Calls for vengeance grew within the brotherhood, and bomb attacks increased in frequency. Events culminated with a general insurrection in the conservative Sunni town of Hama in February 1982. Islamists and other opposition activists proclaimed Hama a "liberated city" and urged Syria to rise up against the "infidel". Brotherhood fighters swept the city of Ba'thists, breaking into the homes of government employees and suspected supporters of the regime, killing about 50. The goal of the attack on Hama was to cease the rebellious activities of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. The assault began on February 2 with extensive shelling of the town of 350 000 inhabitants. Before the attack the Syrian government called for the city's surrender and warned that anyone remaining in the city would be considered as a rebel. Robert Fisk in his book Pity the Nation described how civilians were fleeing Hama while tanks and troops were moving towards the city's outskirts to start the siege. He cites reports from fleeing civilians and soldiers of mass death and shortages of food and water.(Pity the Nation, pages 185-86) Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Baath Party symbol Party flag The Arab Socialist Baath Party (also spelled Bath or Baath; Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي) was founded in 1947 as a radical, secular Arab nationalist political party. ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Robert Fisk during a lecture at Carleton University, Canada, 2004 Robert Fisk (born 1946, Maidstone, Kent) is a British journalist, currently Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent. ...

According to Amnesty International, the Syrian military bombed the old streets of the city from the air to facilitate the introduction of military forces and tanks through the narrow streets, where homes were crushed by tanks during the first four days of fighting. They also claim that the Syrian military pumped poison gas into buildings where insurgents were said to be hiding. Amnesty International symbol Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) comprising a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.[1] Essentially it compares actual practices of human rights with internationally accepted standards and demands compliance where these have not...

The army was mobilized, and Hafez again sent Rifaat's special forces and Mukhabarat agents to the city. After encountering fierce resistance, they used artillery to blast Hama into submission. After a two-week battle, the town was securely in government hands again. Then followed several weeks of torture and mass executions of suspected rebel sympathizers, killing many thousands, known as the Hama massacre. Journalist Robert Fisk, who was in Hama shortly after the massacre, estimated at the time that 10,000 citizens were killed and later described the death count as as many as 20,000; (Pity the Nation, pages 186; [1]), but according to Thomas Friedman (From Beirut to Jerusalem, pages 76-105) Rifaat later boasted of killing 38,000 people. The Syrian Human Rights Committee estimates 30,000 to 40,000 were killed. Most of the old city was completely destroyed, including its palaces, mosques, ancient ruins and the famous Azzem Palace mansion. After the Hama uprising, the Islamist insurrection was broken, and the Brotherhood since operates in exile. Government repression in Syria hardened considerably, as al-Assad had spent in Hama any goodwill he previously had left with the Sunni majority, and now was compelled to rely on pure force to stay in power. Mukhabarat (مخابرات) is the Arabic term for intelligence, as in intelligence agency. ... Robert Fisk during a lecture at Carleton University, Canada, 2004 Robert Fisk (born 1946, Maidstone, Kent) is a British journalist, currently Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent. ... Thomas Loren Friedman, OBE (born July 20, 1953) an American journalist, author and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. ...

After the Massacre

Internationally calls came from Western countries denouncing the attack as a breach of human rights and a massacre. Al-Assad called those countries and the World, in an official speech, not to harbour those who fled Syria and consider them as a threat and terrorists. His calls fell on deaf ears. Most members of the Brotherhood fled mainly to Jordan, the U.S, England and Germany. Large numbers of them settled in the latter two, which granted them political asylum.

Locally, within Syria, the attack was publicized in order to act as a deterrent. However even the most conservative, not radical, elements within Syria did not rise to the aid of the Brotherhood, nor strongly expressed sympathy, largely because of their violent means and actions, compared to Al-Assad's initial patience in dealing with the Brotherhood, until the attempt on his life and Hama's uprising. Thomas Friedman points out that never again have Muslim extremists threatened the Syrian government. Thomas Loren Friedman, OBE (born July 20, 1953) an American journalist, author and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. ...

Even today the public at large are not well informed, especially when compared with comparable or smaller events in Iraq, Lebanon, or in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Occurring 8 months before the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, in comparison, Hama is heavily underdiscussed in both the media and in academic circles. Israel and the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ... Combatants Lebanese Phalangist No combatants Commanders Elie Hobeika No commander Strength 150 irregulars Unarmed civilian population Casualties 2 700 - 3,500 civilians The Sabra and Shatila massacre (or Sabra and Chatila massacre; Arabic: صبرا وشاتيلا) was carried out in September 1982 by Lebanese Maronite Christian militias against refugee camps. ...

Hama, which had some small tourist attractions like open parks and water wheels, turned into a poor city. After the massacre most of its inhabitants moved away, and instead came commoners from nearby villages.

Further reading

• Robert Fisk (1990) Pity the Nation, London: Touchstone, ISBN 0-671-74770-3— pp. 181-87
• Thomas Friedman (1998) From Beirut to Jerusalem, London: HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 0-00-653070-2— includes a chapter on the Hama Massacre; "Hama Rules"
• The Economist (Nov. 16th, 2000) Is Syria really changing?, London: 'Syria’s Islamist movement has recently shown signs of coming back to life, nearly 20 years after 30,000 people were brutally massacred in Hama in 1982' The Economist
• Routledge (Jan. 10th, 2000) Summary of the January 10, 2002, Roundtable on Militant Islamic Fundamentalism in the Twenty-First Century, Volume 24, Number 3 / June 01, 2002: Pages:187 - 205
• Jack Donnelly (1988) Human Rights at the United Nations 1955-85: The Question of Bias , International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Sep., 1988), pp. 275-303

Robert Fisk during a lecture at Carleton University, Canada, 2004 Robert Fisk (born 1946, Maidstone, Kent) is a British journalist, currently Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent. ... Thomas Loren Friedman, OBE (born July 20, 1953) an American journalist, author and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. ... Collins was a Scottish printing company founded by a schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819. ... The Economist is a weekly news and international affairs publication of The Economist Newspaper Ltd edited in London, UK. It has been in continuous publication since September 1843. ... The Economist is a weekly news and international affairs publication of The Economist Newspaper Ltd edited in London, UK. It has been in continuous publication since September 1843. ... Routledge is an imprint for books in the humanities part of the Taylor & Francis Group, which also has Brunner-Routledge, RoutledgeCurzon and RoutledgeFalmer divisions. ...

External links

• "Hama Rules" by Thomas Friedman
• The Battle within Syria: An Interview with Muslim Brotherhood Leader Ali Bayanouni
• Syrian Human Rights Commitee (SHRC), The Massacres of Hama: Law Enforcement Requires Accountability, 01 February 2005 [2002].