Syria (1982)

February 12, 1982

Today's Golden Oldie is from 30 years ago this month. February 1982. What was going on? Syrian President Assad's Alawite forces were massacring rebelling Sunnis.

According to Wikipedia

"The Hama massacre occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian army, under the orders of the country's president, Hafez al-Assad, conducted a scorched earth operation against the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community against the regime of al-Assad.The Hama massacre, carried out by the Syrian Army under commanding General Rifaat al-Assad, President Assad's younger brother, effectively ended the campaign begun in 1976 by Sunni Islamic groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, against Assad's regime, whose leaders were disproportionately from president Assad's own Alawite sect.

Diplomatic reports from western countries stated that about 1,000 were killed. The Syrian Government characterized the claims as lies and accused countries of "flagrant interference in Syria's domestic affairs."

Based on its sources, Amnesty International estimated that between between 5,000 to 25,000 were killed in the fighting on all sides. -more