1981 Hama massacre

April 1981 massacre in Hama, Syria 1982 Hama massacre 1981 Hama massacre Islamist uprising in Syria Syria 1980 Hama, Ba'athist Syria Hama Residents April 1981 Massacre 350–400 600 Defense Companies SSI.svg 18px Defense CompaniesFlag of the United Arab Republic (1958–1971), Flag of Syria (1980–2024).svg 14th Special Forces DivisionFlag of the United Arab Republic (1958–1971), Flag of Syria (1980–2024).svg 47th Brigade The 1981 Hama massacre was an incident in which over 300 residents of Hama were killed by Ba'athist Syrian military forces. Background History of Syria#Syria under Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000) Islamist uprising in Syria From 1976 to 1982, Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, fought the Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria in what has been called a "long campaign of terror".Seale, Patrick. 1989. Asad, the Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press, p. 335. In July 1980, the ratification of Law No. 49 made membership in the Muslim Brotherhood a capital offense.Human Rights Watch 1996 Middle East Watch (part of Human Rights Watch) called the period between 1976 and 1982 "The Great Repression."Middle East Watch. Syria Unmasked: The Suppression of Human Rights by the Assad Regime. New Haven: Yale UP, 1991, p.8. According to Middle East Watch, Opposition exploded in the late 1970s, touched off by Assad's military intervention in Lebanon in 1976. Public discontent fed on many grievances, rampant inflation, a housing crisis deepened by refugees from Lebanon, official corruption, security forces from which no one felt safe, and the domination of the Alawites within the military and political system. Over four years unrest spread to every sector of Syrian society, and by the beginning of 1980 it seemed possible the regime would be overthrown.Journalist Robert Fisk who was reporting from Hama in 1981 states: "When I spent a night in the autumn of 1981 in the town’s only hotel.. A visit to the homes of three very frightened foreign aid workers – two Australians and an Indian – confirmed a popular rumour in Damascus: that Hama was in a state of near-revolt against Assad’s Baathist regime."Fisk Robert Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War Oxford University Press 2002 0-19-280130-9 3rd Oxford, UK The massacre The 1981 Hama massacre occurred after a failed attack around 21–22 April 1981 by armed Sunni Islamist guerrillas (reports identify a security checkpoint or a spring festival) near an Alawite village near Hama.Middle East Watch. Syria Unmasked: The Suppression of Human Rights by the Assad Regime. New Haven: Yale UP, 1991, pp. 17-18.James A. Paul Human Rights in Syria Human Rights Watch, 1990, p.20-21 As a revenge action, government units deployed into Hama and launched house-to-house searches, sealing off neighborhoods as street fighting erupted. A curfew was imposed and Syrian Army troops entered the city. Between Thursday 23rd and Sunday 26th of April, 1981, security forces killed scores to hundreds of residents - between 150 and "several hundred", according to The Washington Post, or at least 350, plus 600 injured, according to authors Olivier Carré and Gérard Michaud chosen randomly among the male population over the age of 14.Carré, Olivier and Gérard Michaud. Les Frères musulmans: Egypte et Syrie (1928–1982). Paris: Gallimard, 1983: p. 148-151. The killings were carried out by the government's "Protection Brigades" (a palace guard commanded by the president's brother Rifaat al-Assad, and Syrian Special Forces commanded by General Ali Haidar, an Alawite and Assad aide, according to the Post, while Human Rights Watch identified Syrian Special Forces and the Syrian Army's 47th Brigade. The Washington Post described the incident as "believed to have been the bloodiest retribution so far in President Hafez al-Assad's two-year crackdown on opponents to his rule".Syrian Troops Massacre Scores Of Assad's Foes, Washington Post June 25, 1981 Syrian Mukhabarat and Alawite militias loyal to Rifaat al-Assad unleashed brutal attacks on the civilians of Hama; executing and torturing family members of those accused of collaborating with the Islamist opposition. Aftermath 1982 Hama massacre See also 2004 Qamishli riots Black September List of massacres in Syria List of modern conflicts in the Middle East Further reading Conduit, Dara. "The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Spectacle of Hama." The Middle East Journal 70.2 (2016): 211–226. Conduit, Dara. "The Patterns of Syrian Uprising: Comparing Hama in 1980–1982 and Homs in 2011." British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 44.1 (2017): 73–87. References Syria Category:April 1981 in Asia Category:Massacres in 1981 Category:1981 murders in Syria Category:Military history of Hama Category:Massacres in Syria Category:Political repression in Syria Category:Islamist uprising in Syria Category:Violence against men in Asia Category:Massacres committed by Ba'athist Syria Category:Ba'athist Syria Category:20th-century mass murders in Syria Category:Attacks on residential buildings in Syria Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1981