Press release
Syrian National Coalition – Syria
Department of Media and Communications
February 2, 2020
Today marks the anniversary of the 1982 Hama Massacre, the horrific massacre during which the Assad regime forces, under orders from Hafiz al-Assad, laid siege to Hama city and launched an all-out assault that lasted for a whole month. The assault claimed the lives of nearly 40,000 civilians as well as razed most of the city to the ground, especially its historical neighborhoods.
Testimonies by dozens of survivors shed light on the atrocities committed by the Assad regime’s forces in the city during the massacre, while much of what happened is still unknown and needs further documentation to ensure that the perpetrators are held to account.
The Assad family carries on with its bloody polices to this day with the support of the Russian occupation and Iranian militias. Meanwhile, the international community is playing the same role it played 38 years ago when it remained silent and allowed the regime to massacre civilians with impunity.
Throughout five decades of tyranny, oppression, criminality, and terrorism, barely a day passed without a painful anniversary, brutal massacre, mass forced displacement, destruction, or killing by the Assad regime against the Syrian people or the peoples of the region.
The Assad regime’s current crimes are a direct result of the international community’s silence on yesterday’s crimes. Unless these crimes are ended and the perpetrators are held accountable through the international community’s assumption of its responsibilities, the future will only bring more decades of killing, terrorism, and displacement in Syria, the region, and beyond at the hands of the regime and its allies.
May our wounded recover, our detainees be free, and our fallen heroes rest in peace.
Long live the Syrian people, free and with honor.
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