The Familiar Yet 'Forgotten' Tragedy of Hama

posted on: Feb 5, 2015

On February 2, 1982, Syrian troops — acting under the orders of then-President Hafez al-Assad and led by his brother, Rifaat al-Assad — besieged the city of Hama in an effort to quell an anti-government uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood. By the 28th of that month, as many as 40,000 people had been killed, the majority of them unarmed civilians. For 27 days, artillery shells rained down on the city while soldiers, who had sworn an oath to protect their homeland (and its people), gunned down family after family in their homes and in city streets.

For decades to come, the Syrian people were effectively silenced. The massacre, referred to as al-Ahdath (the “events”), was discussed only in hushed tones and in utter privacy. In Hama, a hotel was built atop the ruins of al-Keilaneyeh neighborhood, which had been completely flattened, while half-destroyed houses remained untouched in some of the city’s other neighborhoods, serving as a reminder of what would happen to those who dared speak out against the dictatorial regime.

It was not until the birth of the popular uprising against current President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 that the Syrian people began to publicly talk about what had befallen Hama and mourn the thousands of lives lost. The phrase “Oh Hama, forgive us” became commonplace in revolutionary songs, as the people of Syria tried to come to terms with the fact that they had remained silent during and after the onslaught of the country’s fourth-largest city so many years ago.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com