reply by
Syrian Human Rights Committee
6/27/2002 (13:08) |
|
Why did the massacre of Hama on Feb 2nd, 1982 take place?
Were those atrocities committed to enforce the law and preserve order or just to save the regime?
The Al-Tallia magazine, which is issued in Paris after the massacre, conveyed a statement from a Syrian official trying to reason what happened during the massacre: “About 200 armed men emerged at the night of February 2nd, 1982 and occupied the city. They executed about 90 people of the regime followers, took over important city offices and landmarks, and announced an armed disobedience, which forced the Syrian authority to undertake a decision to clean the city of them and to restore law and order.”
Upon hearing this statement, the following question comes to mind: if 200 people had announced disobedience, then why did the state kill 30,000 human beings? Isn’t this an outrageous violation of the right to live? Isn’t this a decision to commit mass murder? Why did the regime deliberately order the destruction and levelling of one third of homes in the city of Hama?
Assuming that 200 militant combatants, in a city of more than a quarter million inhabitant, announce disobedience, what gives the ruler the right to destroy the city over the heads of women and children? In other words: Could a quarter million people carry the blame or responsibility of only what 200 of them did? Weren’t there any other solutions besides shelling the city with artillery and missile launchers?
What kind of ruler on the face of this earth would counter-respond against 200 people like Syria’s ruler did? Instead of chasing them to capture them and put them on trial or even negotiate with them, he bombards their city with missiles, tanks and artillery killing children, women, elderly and innocent civilians and destroying homes over the heads of its inhabitants, which resulted in some 30,000 humans casualties, all dead because no wounded or prisoners were taken alive. The Syrian regime raided hospitals and killed all the wounded there without making any distinction between civilians and combatants. They did not even bother with the questions: who do we kill and why? What is the crime of newborns, women, and elderly?
In a neutral report from Amnesty International, comes the following description of the actions of the Syrian government:
“Some monitors stated: old streets of the city were bombed from the air to facilitate the introduction of military forces and tanks through the narrow streets, like the al-Hader street, where homes were crushed by tanks during the first four days of fighting. On February 15th, after days of intense bombardment, Defence Minister General Mustafa Tlass announced that the rebellion was put out, but the city remained under siege and surrounded. Door-to-door searches along with extensive arrests continued during the next two following weeks, while various news leaks talked about atrocities committed by the security forces and mass killings of innocent city residents. It is not easy to know what did exactly occur, but Amnesty International mentioned news of a mass execution of some 70 people outside the city hospital on February 19th and the annihilation of all residents of the al-Hader area on the hands of the Defense Brigades (Saraya el-Defaa) on the same day. Other reports talk of using containers of cyanide gas to kill all inhabitants of buildings, where rebels were suspected of residing. Also, people were grouped in the military airport, city stadium, and military camps and were left there without shelter or food for days.”
The mass murders and mass executions over-step the laws and constitute a grave violation of the right to live, which is the same sacred right mentioned in the universal declaration of human rights and the International treaty regarding human and civil rights (Article 16): every human has the natural right to live, which is protected by this law and it is not allowed to take this right from any individual oppressively. This was an excerpt of a report sent by Amnesty International addressing Syrian President Hafiz Assad in 1983.
The inhabitants of Hama know best by far the extent of the disastrous destruction that hit their city’s streets and building, and the onslaught of all the massacres that destroyed or wiped off hundreds of families in cold blood simply because they were from Hama.
It is rather impossible for a writer to paint a picture of the massacres committed against women and newborn children or to describe the methods used to murder members of the same family, one after another right before the eyes of the ones to follow the same fate. They would cut the guts of a baby while his mother held him, and then fire a stream of bullets onto her to prevent her from giving birth to another future opposition member. They would fire right on the head of an elder, while he murmured a prayer after what he had just witnessed. Children would scream asking for their mom, or grandfather just to be answered with a stream of bullets killing them all. A family would fall in a pool of their blood, but not for long, because soldiers would set everything ablaze after ransacking the house for any valuables and cutting the hands and ears off in a their crazed rush to loot the jewelry worn. Were there any newborns, or sick elders, or young teenagers, or pregnant women of those 200 militants who challenged the authority of the regime?
Not one store escaped theft, ransacking or bulldozing, no mosques escaped destruction, nor any minarets remained erect in Hama during that tragic month, even churches were not spared and suffered a similar fate. One third of Hama was destroyed to clear Hama of only 200 combatants.
More than 10,000 human beings disappeared from Hama after the massacre, whose fates should be traced, accounted for and clarified after 20 years of this horrible massacre. Were those of the 200 rebels? What was their fate?
All what happened in Hama was a pre-planned plot. Upon sifting through plenty of verified information, it is verifiably safe to assert that the Syrian regime was the initiator in igniting and deteriorating of the events for a very clear political objective. The regime used in its operations inhumane methods and broke all international treaties, which it signed and ratified prior to those events. The regime violated the most basic rights of its people, starting with the right to live and ending with the citizenship rights, motivated only by its utter hatred towards Hama and its citizens because they opposed the regime most when compared to other Syrian cities.
The Syrian regime deals with its citizens by utilizing “State Terrorism,” because it has given up on its duty as a preserver of lives of its citizens and a protector of their properties, honor and dignity. The regime violated the sacred right to live as scripted in all religions, laws and international treaties. The regime was not able to find not a single resolution nor pursued any route to avoid spilling blood by eliminating the outstanding issues between it and its opponents. If such an attempt took place, it would have been a huge moral victory for this regime instead of the reality that set itself in: exchanged animosities, hatred, dormant vengeances awaiting a chance to manifest, and desperate attempts by the regime to reason and market the crimes committed against innocent human lives from Hama, the victim city.
SHRC, despite the passage of two decades since these painful events, calls upon Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime associates to distance themselves from the blood-stained methodology utilized by the regime of his late father Hafiz Assad and his influential uncle Refaat Assad, which violates all human values and international agreements. Furthermore, SHRC demands respect for the rights of the Syrian People especially their freedom of expression and to stop boasting about the killing and violation of rights of Syrian citizens.
SHRC calls on the regime to start a serious investigation file around all what occurred in Hama under the supervision of a neutral entity, put on trial all persons who committed violations of the rights of citizens, and their properties, honor, and dignity, and to restore such rights and properties to its rightful owners.
The Syrian Human Rights Committee calls for settling all outstanding issues pertaining to this tragic chapter of Syrian history, starting with releasing all detainees, elaborating about the fate of all missing persons from the city of Hama, and permitting all refugees, who fled the city to other cities or migrated abroad to return safely.
Syrian Human Rights Committee
February 2002
|
|