April 1981 Hama massacre
Encyclopedia
The April 1981 Hama massacre occurred after a failed terrorist attack on an Alawite village near Hama
. In return, the Syria army killed about 400 of the terrorists who attempted the attack.
n regime was not without its critics, though most were quickly murdered. A serious challenge arose in the late 1970s, however, from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, who reject the basic values of the secular Baath program and object to rule by the Alawis, whom they consider heretical. From 1976 until its suppression in 1982, the arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood
led an armed insurgency against the regime.
Hama
Hama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria—behind Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs—with a population of 696,863...
. In return, the Syria army killed about 400 of the terrorists who attempted the attack.
Background
The authoritarian SyriaSyria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n regime was not without its critics, though most were quickly murdered. A serious challenge arose in the late 1970s, however, from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, who reject the basic values of the secular Baath program and object to rule by the Alawis, whom they consider heretical. From 1976 until its suppression in 1982, the arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
led an armed insurgency against the regime.
See also
- Black September in JordanBlack September in JordanSeptember 1970 is known as the Black September in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events." It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the militancy of Palestinian organizations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country. The...
- 2004 Al-Qamishli riots2004 Al-Qamishli riotsThe 2004 Al-Qamishli riots refer to riots by Syrian Kurds in the northeastern city of al-Qamishli in March 2004. The riots started during a chaotic football match, when some people started raising Kurdish national flags, turning the match to political conflict...
- List of massacres in Syria
- List of modern conflicts in the Middle East