The Assad Family Business: Mass Murder

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The Assad Family Business: Mass Murder

Posted by David Gerstman Monday, February 3, 2014 at 8:45am

 

February 2, 1982 was the reported beginning of the siege of Hama, the biggest massacre in Syria; until now.

 

Thirty two years ago yesterday, February 2, 1982, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, began an assault on the city of Hama to put down a Muslim Brotherhood revolt against his regime. Two years ago NPR recounted:

The facts of that event are well-known, but the photographic evidence has been scant. Then, Syria’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood led an uprising centered in Hama, a central city of around 400,000.

 

In response, President Hafez Assad, the father of the current president, ordered 12,000 troops to besiege the city. That force was led by Hafez Assad’s brother Rifaat. He supervised the shelling that reduced parts of Hama to rubble. Those not killed in the tank and air assault were rounded up. Those not executed were jailed for years.

 

To this day, the death toll is in dispute and is at best an estimate. Human rights groups, which were not present during the slaughter, have put the toll at around 10,000 dead or more. The Muslim Brotherhood claims 40,000 died in Hama, with 100,000 expelled and 15,000 who disappeared. The number of missing has never been acknowledged by the Syrian leadership. http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/02/the-assad-family-business-mass-murder/