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Associated Press

It was one of the darkest moments in the modern history of the Arab world. More than four decades ago, Hafez Assad, then president of Syria, launched what came to be known as the Hama Massacre.
Between 10,000 to 40,000 people were killed or disappeared in the government attack on the central Syrian city. It began on February 2, 1982, and lasted for nearly a month, leaving the city in ruins.
The memory of the government assault and the month-long siege on the city, which at the time was a stronghold of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, remains visceral in Syrian and Arab minds.
Now Islamist insurgents have captured the city, tearing down a poster of Hafez Assad’s son, President Bashar al-Assad, and swarming security and government offices – scenes unimaginable 40 years ago.

The moment carried great symbolism in Syria’s long-running civil war, which began 13 years ago but many say is rooted in Hama.
Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, is known for its quaint waterwheels, a landmark attraction along the banks of the Orontes River.
In the early 1980s, the city’s name became synonymous with killings.
It was the scene of Muslim Brotherhood-led anti-government attacks that targeted military officers, state institutions and ruling party offices. In February 1982, Hafez Assad ordered an assault on the city to quell the unrest.
In a matter of days, government warplanes destroyed most of the city, opening the way for ground troops.
Hafez Assad’s brother, Rifaat, led the artillery unit that shelled the city and killed thousands, earning him the nickname the “Butcher of Hama”.

Only this year, Rifaat Assad was indicted in Switzerland for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Hama. An international arrest warrant was issued for him three years earlier.
The massacre created resentment that fanned the flames of another uprising against his son years later.
In 2011, Hama and surrounding towns became the epicentre of some of the biggest protests against Bashar al-Assad, which started in 2011 during a wave of Arab uprisings.
The protests forced government security forces to withdraw from the city briefly in June 2012, leaving the opposition in control and fuelling a brief sense of liberation, in a place that had once been pounded by Syrian warplanes.
Residents at that time painted walls around the city in red, threw red paint on the waterwheels to symbolise the Hama massacre and tried to organise local administration. About 800,000 people lived there at the start of the uprising.
“Erhal ya Bashar,” a protest chant that means “Come on, leave, Bashar” was popularised in the Hama protests.

But government forces returned in August of that year, with a brutal assault that caused mass casualties in the first 24 hours. The leader of the chants was later killed, his throat slit by government forces.
Aron Lund, a long-time Syria expert at Century International, a New York-based think tank, said Hama has obvious symbolic value because of the history of the massacre. He described it as a “huge event in Syrian history and really formative for the opposition and the Islamist opposition in particular”.
The brutal crackdown is commemorated each year.
It was also formative for government forces, because many of the current military leaders were young at the time, Lund said.
“When 2011 rolled around, they all realised that, you know, we all remember, you all remember Hama. So there’s no there’s no compromising here,” he said.
In a video message Thursday, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the de facto leader of the Syrian insurgency, announced that fighters had reached Hama “to clean the wound that has bled for 40 years”. One of the opposition fighters’ first moves was to free prisoners from the city’s central prison.

NEW: Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS)-aligned opposition groups have begun a campaign to capture Homs after capturing Hama City on December 5. Syrian opposition groups are using negotiated settlements with localities to rapidly seize territory without fighting. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/p5HIRydfwA
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) December 6, 2024

Hama is a major intersection in Syria that links the country’s centre with the north as well as the east and the coast.
It is about 200km (125 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Assad.
The region is predominantly Sunni Muslim but also has a minority from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, to which Assad’s family belongs.
Hama’s fall would have been a massive development in its own right, Lund said. But coming after the fall of Syria’s largest city, Aleppo last week, which gave government forces the time to prepare their defence lines, it “will absolutely encourage Assad’s enemies and discourage his supporters”.
Next stop for the insurgents is the central province of Homs, which analysts say would be a game-changer if it falls into rebel hands. Insurgent groups have already said they are advancing toward Homs.
Homs, about 40km (25 miles) south of Hama, is where one of Syria’s two state-run oil refineries is located and is also gateway to Damascus. It connects the capital to the coast, where Assad has his base and his village of origin, and home to a Russian naval base.
“Should the rebels be able to seize Homs, which they now have a shot at doing after seizing Hama, then they could theoretically have grabbed” three of Syria’s largest cities and severed the capital from the coast, said Lund.


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Middle East

Why rebel capture of Syria’s Hama, a city with a brutal history, matters

A billboard bearing a picture of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and a national flag that were torn by anti-government fighters in the northern city of Aleppo. Photo: AFP

A Syrian anti-government fighter shoots at a large banner bearing a picture of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, in Hama. Photo: AFP

Residents take to the streets of Hama to welcome anti-government fighters. Photo: AFP

Syrian anti-government fighters cheer as they ride a military vehicle through the streets of Hama. Photo: AFP

A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces in the northern outskirts of Hama on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Syrian rebels capture city of Hama in fresh blow to President Assad

A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Syria’s west-central city of Hama. Photo: AFP

Residents in Hama set ablaze a large banner bearing a picture of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Photo: AFP

A destroyed Syrian regime military aircraft on the tarmac at the Kweyris military airfield in the eastern part of Aleppo province. Photo: AFP

The main insurgent commander, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, in a still image from 2016 file video. Photo: Orient TV/Reuters TV via Reuters

Syrian government forces and rebels battle near Hama city as civil war reignites

Syrian opposition fighters stand atop a seized military armoured vehicle on the outskirts of Hama, Syria, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Abandoned Syrian army vehicles on the outskirts of Hama. Photo: AP

Smoke from fighting on the outskirts of Hama on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A Syrian opposition fighter at an entrance to the Hama governorate. Photo: EPA-EFE

 A Syrian opposition fighter tears up a painting depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hazef Assad at the Aleppo international airport. Photo: AP

Who is the leader of Syria’s shock insurgency?

A damaged poster of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo. Photo: Reuters

A Syrian opposition fighter tears up a painting depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hazef Assad at the Aleppo international airport. Photo: AP


An undated photo released by a militant group in 2016 shows Abu Mohammed al-Golani, second from right, discussing battlefield details with commanders in Aleppo, Syria. File photo: Militant UGC via AP

Armed men take selfies at the Nayrab military airport, in Aleppo, Syria. Photo: EPA-EFE

Syria launches counter-attacks in an attempt to halt insurgency

An abandoned Syrian army tank, southwest of Aleppo. Photo: AP

An anti-government fighter in the cockpit of a Syrian military aircraft. Photo: AFP

Syrian opposition fighters in the heart of Aleppo. Photo: Reuters

‘More of this can come’: what Syria attack means for Middle East power balance

Syrian opposition fighters tear up a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in central Aleppo on November 30, 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

Rebel fighters walk at the Great Mosque in the city of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province, Syria, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in July. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Islamist-led rebels have captured Hama, a city strategically located between Aleppo and President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power in Damascus


Islamist-led rebels have captured Hama, a city strategically located between Aleppo and President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power in Damascus.


Syrian conflict

War and conflict

Syria

Why rebel capture of Syria’s Hama, a city with a brutal history, matters

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Islamist-led rebels have captured Hama, a city strategically located between Aleppo and President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power in Damascus

Islamist-led rebels have captured Hama, a city strategically located between Aleppo and President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power in Damascus