Hama Massacre
The Hama Massacre beginning February 2, 1982 occurred when the government of Syria attacked the town of Hama and killed thousands of people. The number killed is usually placed at around 20,000 but no accurate figures exist and the number could be considerably smaller or larger than this.The town of Hama, like many smaller towns in the southern Sunni parts of Syria was a centre of activity of the Muslim Brotherhood an Islamist group opposed to the rule of Hafez al-Assad's Baath Party. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s Assad's government had been violently suppressing the revolt, and this effort culminated in the attack on Hama.
The assault began on February 2 with extensive shelling of the town of 350 000 inhabitants. Syrian special forces entered and began to slaughter its inhabitants, with many others fleeing.
The attack was successful in its goals and the rebellious activities of the Muslim Brotherhood all but ceased after this point.
The attack was not widely publicized at the time as the Syrian government made a determined effort to keep information from getting out. At the time the United States viewed the Muslim Brotherhood has a threat and turned a blind eye to many of the Syrian's governments actions. Even today the public at large are not well informed, especially when compared with comparable or smaller events in Iraq, Lebanon, or in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.