Selective Sympathy and Condemnation: How Different Groups Perceive Massacres in Syria

Massacre is defined here as “the intentional killing of a number of unarmed civilians, or the killing of a number of regular military/security forces, or militias, when they are not in a combat situation.” Massacres will be categorized according to the perpetrator(s).

Massacres committed by the authority during the regimes of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad

1- Jisr al-Shughour, March 10, 1980: Field execution of one hundred civilians in the town square by the bridge over the Orontes River, executed by special units.

2- Tadmor Prison, June 27, 1980: Killing of prisoners in the wards, with numbers ranging between 600-1200, by the Defense Brigades.

3-Al-Masharqa neighborhood in Aleppo, August 11, 1980 (first day of Eid al-Fitr): Execution of forty-one individuals after besieging the neighborhood, by special units.

4- Hama, February 2-28, 1982: 10,000 to 40,000 civilians killed, by the Defense Brigades, special units, the 21st Division, and the 47th Division.

5- Qamishli, March 12-13, 2004: Security forces killed six Kurds at a football stadium, including three children. The following day, fifteen more Kurds were killed after the Ba’ath Party office was burned, and thirty Kurds were killed following the toppling of a statue of Hafez al-Assad.

6- Latakia train station, March 30, 2011: Twenty people were killed in a protest that erupted after Bashar al-Assad’s speech when it reached the area between the southern entrance and the train station. Security forces opened fire on protesters from the rooftop of the fire department building and from the bridge near the station square.

7- Al-Alabi Square demonstration in the Saliba neighborhood of Latakia, April 17, 2011: Gunfire aimed at protesters led to dozens of deaths as security forces pursued them; approximately a hundred individuals have not returned home since, and it remains unclear whether they were killed during the dispersal of the demonstration or in detention.

8- Al-Saa Square demonstration in Homs, April 19, 2011: Gunfire began shortly before 2 AM during a demonstration that erupted after the burial of eight deceased from the Bab al-Sebaa neighborhood and four from Talbisa. Protesters were shot at from various directions and chased through the streets; about three hundred individuals have not returned home since, with casualties including both security forces and the Fourth Division.

9- Zablatani Market in Damascus, April 22, 2011: Demonstrators gathered in the Jobar neighborhood after coming from various parts of Eastern Ghouta, intending to head to Abbasiyin Square. Upon reaching the market near the entrance to the long street leading to the square, gunfire was opened on them, resulting in twenty fatalities, by security forces.

10- Al-Mashtum area (Tala’i Camp) at the southern entrance of Idlib, May 20, 2011: Protesters gathered from various parts of Idlib Province in Ariha (15 km from Idlib city) intending to reach Hanano Square in Idlib. Upon reaching Al-Mashtum (after 7 km), gunfire was opened on them, resulting in fifty fatalities, by security forces.

11- Al-Assi Square demonstration in Hama, June 3, 2011: Seventy fatalities reported, by security forces.

12- Karam al-Zeitoun in Homs, March 9, 2012: Execution of forty-seven civilians from the neighborhood after it was besieged and combed, by the army.

13- Al-Houla, on the Homs-Masyaf road, May 25, 2012: 108 civilian casualties, including 34 women and 49 children, by local forces from villages and towns south of al-Houla that were armed by the regime.

14- Daraya, August 25, 2012: 220 civilian fatalities, by the Fourth Division.

15- Maarrat al-Nu’man, October 8-13, 2012: Execution of sixty-five civilians after combing the city, by the army.

16- Al-Tadamun neighborhood in Damascus, April 16, 2013: Execution and burning of forty-one civilians, by security forces.

17- Al-Bayda East of Baniyas, May 2-3, 2013: Execution of seventy-two civilians, by security forces and the “Syrian Resistance in the İskenderun Brigade” led by Ali Kayali (Mıraç Ural).

18- Ras al-Nab’ neighborhood in Baniyas, May 2-3, 2013: Execution of seventy-seven civilians after combing the neighborhood, by security forces.

19- Chemical Massacre: Eastern Ghouta (Zamalka – Ayn Tarma), Western Ghouta (Moadamiyat al-Sham), August 21, 2013: After both regions were struck by missiles filled with Sarin gas, the death toll ranges between 281-1729, by the army.

Massacres committed by remnants of Bashar al-Assad’s regime

1- Approximately 150-200 personnel from the General Security Forces were killed following a military operation led by armed elements under the command of former officer Ghiyath Dala against the new Syrian authority during iftar on the evening of Ramadan 6, 1446 / March 6, 2025, in the area along the coastal highway between the southern entrance of Baniyas and the northern entrance of Jableh, as well as in the cities of Jableh and Qardaha.

2- Approximately 50-70 civilians were killed in their vehicles (especially those with Idlib plates) on the broad coastal road (the highway) due to sniping by Ghiyath Dala’s forces on the evening of March 6, 2025.

Massacres committed by armed Islamic factions

1- Artillery School in the Ramousa area of Aleppo, June 16, 1979: Eighty student officers were killed after being filtered out due to their Alawite affiliation by the Fighting Vanguard organization.

2- Northeastern Rural Latakia, August 4-19, 2013: One hundred civilian fatalities from the Alawite community, with two hundred kidnapped, by various Islamic factions.

3- Adra Labor area, the night of December 11 – early December 12, 2013: Execution of thirty-two Alawite, Ismaili, Druze, and Christian civilians from the area after armed groups took control. The “Islam Army” faction from Douma, led by Zahran Alloush, carried out the massacre, during which thousands of civilians were kidnapped, many of whom remain missing.

4- Rural Jableh, Rural Baniyas, Rural Masyaf, and al-Qusour neighborhood in Baniyas, March 7-9, 2025: Five hundred to seven hundred civilians from the Alawite community were killed by various Islamic factions that came to the coast to assist in thwarting the military attempt against the new authority led by officer Ghiyath Dala.

Massacre committed by irregular armed groups

1- Military Security Detachment in Jisr al-Shughour, June 6, 2011: 80-100 killed from the detachment members after being besieged in their headquarters since the evening of June 3. According to various accounts, those who besieged the detachment arrived by motorcycle from the Al-Ghab area and northern Hama, seeking revenge for relatives killed in the Jisr al-Shughour protest on June 3, when gunfire was opened on them by the military security branch in Hama.

Conclusion

For forty-six years and three months of ongoing massacres, Syrians have held a selective stance regarding massacres based on the perpetrator and the victim. The Syrian Kurds have been an exception, avoiding such selectivity, likely because of lessons learned from historical oppression. They have faced massacres throughout modern history in Turkey (1925-1930-1938, and after the August 15, 1984 revolution), in Iran (1979), and in Iraq (1988).

This selectivity permits individuals to express opposition to a massacre, such as the one at the Artillery School committed by armed Islamists, while remaining silent about the massacre of Islamic prisoners in Tadmor Prison or what Hafez al-Assad did in Hama. During the massacres from 2011 to 2024, this selectivity became particularly evident among Syrians. Pro-regime individuals (including those who argued that the regime was the lesser of two evils compared to Islamists, some of whom were previously prisoners of Hafez al-Assad) turned a blind eye to the massacres committed by the regime or “supporting forces”; some attempted to attribute them to the armed opposition, as seen in the chemical massacre (remember what Buthaina Shaaban said at that time). This reflects both sides’ silence or even tacit support regarding attacks on civilians with barrel bombs dropped by regime aircraft or bombardments of homes, schools, and markets.

On the other hand, the Islamic opposition has not issued a single word of condemnation regarding the killings and kidnappings in Adra al-Oumaliyah, nor what transpired in Jisr al-Shughour in 2011, or in northeastern Latakia in 2013.

It can be stated here that the perpetrators of these massacres have indirect accomplices: anyone who stands with them through their actions, words, or hearts, and who lies with or about them. This includes the entire span of Syrian history over these forty-six years and three months.