Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
February 2, 2021
On this day in 1982, hordes of Assad militia begun assaulting the city of Hama and committed a horrific massacre on direct orders from Hafez al-Assad. The carnage lasted for nearly a month, claiming the lives of nearly 40,000 civilians and reducing much of the city to rubble, especially its historical neighborhoods.
Testimonies by survivors recount part of the atrocities that the Assad regime’s militia committed in the city, while much of what happened is still unknown and needs further documentation to ensure that the perpetrators do not escape punishment.
The Assad regime’s massacres, crimes and violations are still continuing with support from the Russian occupation and Iranian militias. The international community, meanwhile, is playing the same role when it kept silent about the Hama massacre and allowed the regime to commit the most heinous crimes without any accountability.
The criminality of this regime has created a calendar that is full of pain, as barely a single day is devoid of the anniversary of a brutal massacre, mass displacement, destruction, murder and assassination against the Syrian people or the peoples of the region.
Nothing can invalidate what is right. The rights of peoples and the crimes committed against them and against humanity are not subject to the statute of limitations. Criminals will receive their just punishment no matter how long it will take.
May our wounded recover, our detainees be free, and our fallen heroes rest in peace.
Long live Syria and its people, free and with honor.
