Horrific Video Captures the Reported ‘Ramadan Massacre’ in Syria
- Posted on August 1, 2011 at 7:00am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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BEIRUT (The Blaze/AP) — Syrian security forces shelled the city of Hama in the second day of a fierce assault aimed at crushing the anti-government protests against President Bashar Assad’s regime.
(Read our earlier report on the violence)
Less than 24 hours after government raids left at least 70 people dead and possibly many more, troops backed by tanks renewed their attempt to subdue Hama, a center of the revolt against the Assad family’s rule. One video posted on YouTube purported to show the tanks in the city:
As The Atlantic reports, the crackdown has already been given the name the “Ramadan Massacre,” named for the Muslim holiday that starts Monday.
Some videos allege to have captured the violence. This one says it shows several protesters tending to the dead and wounded after the government opened fire (WARNING: contains graphic images):
The actions of the government have sparked a sharp retort from President Obama, who on Sunday said “the reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime.”
Hama-based activist Omar Hamawi said tanks opened fire early Monday morning after a night of sporadic shooting. Syria-based rights activist Mustafa Osso confirmed Hama was being shelled. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there was also intense shooting in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour overnight.
The escalating government crackdown appears aimed at preventing the protests from swelling during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Monday. Muslims throng mosques during Ramadan for special night prayers after breaking their daily dawn-to-dusk fast. The gatherings could trigger intense protests throughout the predominantly Sunni country and activists say authorities are moving to ensure that does not happen.
More than 1,600 civilians have been killed in the crackdown on the largely peaceful protests against Assad’s regime since the uprising began in mid-March. But the regime disputes the toll and blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, saying religious extremists – not true reform-seekers – are behind it.
Assad said in remarks published Monday in the army’s As-Shaab magazine that he remains confident his government will quell the uprising which he said aims at “fragmenting the country as a prelude for fragmenting the entire region.”
The worst carnage on Sunday was in Hama, the scene of a 1982 massacre by Assad’s late father and predecessor and a city with a history of defiance against 40 years of Assad family rule. Hospitals there were overwhelmed with bloodied casualties, suggesting the death toll could rise sharply, witnesses said.
It appeared the regime was making an example of Hama, a religiously conservative city about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of the capital, Damascus. The city largely has fallen out of government control since June as residents turned on the regime and blockaded the streets against encroaching tanks.
Osso said as many as 120 were killed in Hama alone Sunday while Abdul-Rahman put the number at 52. The reports could not be independently verified because Syria has banned most foreign media and restricted coverage.
“Resident are committed to resistance through peaceful means,” Hamawi told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. He said the city’s streets are full of barriers as well as thousands of men “who are ready to defend the city with stones.”
“People will not surrender this time. Will not allow a repetition of what happened in 1982,” he said.
In 1982, Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, ordered the military to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement. The city was sealed off and bombs dropped from above smashed swaths of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.
The real number may never be known. Then, as now, reporters were not allowed to reach the area.
The head of the political department of the Syrian army, Lt. Gen. Riad Haddad, said in remarks published Monday that Syria is facing the “closing chapter of the conspiracy.”
Haddad called the army’s intervention in some Syrian cities an “indispensable necessity” to defend and protect the country’s security and stability, and to put an end to armed groups that attack people, smash public and private properties and disrupt public life.
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Comments (85)
Willie Stoker
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 12:15pmWell, I have read the book and know that Syria will be totally destroyed, probably soon, so they will no longer be a problem. I’m guessing that Israel will probably take them out with nuclear attack.
Report Post »boxy
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 3:17pmYou must not know how the world works then.
Report Post »randy
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 4:44pmShould we all be dancing in the streets as they did when the towers came down?
Personally my feeling is… For everyone they take out, that’s one less the civilized world
has to in the future.
Sorry Syria. You’ll receive no sympathy from the USA
Report Post »Sicboy
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 5:30pmWhere is our brave president? These people are being killed in droves. Oh, thats right syria is on the side of iran, our president wants them to lead the Mid East.
Report Post »avenger
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:12pmYou people are missing the point..Syria is a sovereign country run by a dictator that does not want RADICAL MUSLIMS taking over the country.So the people he is killing are enemy insurgents.Hello, is this what we are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq.Count your blessings that Syria has not requested our help YET.Stop watching/listening to liberal lies….
Report Post »IAMNOTKNOWING
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:49pm@BOXY
You must not know “how the Word works” then.
I believe it’s in Isaiah, and it has something to do with Damascus becoming a “ruinous heap.”
“I looked and I saw, and Dasmascus was ‘no more’. It was ‘cut off’ from being a city.”
Damascus, Syria is the oldest inhabitted city in man-kind, yet it’s destiny is to wind up as nothing but rubble. …. “says the Lord God.”
“That’s the facts, Jack.” – Pvt. Winger ;D
Report Post »Jim AZ
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 2:37amThe poor sobs are being used. Their crappy dictatorships will be replaced by a crappier one, fueled by Islamo-fascism. And the non-Islamic jerks who set the stage plan their demise. It ain’t gonna be pretty.
Report Post »mrwinter
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:46amWhy are we even concerned with this? What’s Charlie Sheen doing?
mrwinter
Report Post »Jack2011
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 1:02pmExactly.
Muslims have been killing each other for eons. Let them keep on killing each other. YAWN!
Report Post »avenger
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:17pmCharlie got a sitcom contract for a new comedy gig called “Anger Management”.For real ! I hope he follows his old established babe magnet routine.Oh..who gives a shet about syria,let them kill each other.
Report Post »smokeysmoke
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:37ami dont want to see the muslems that want to kill us oppress their own people…. that is evil just being allowed to fester
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:57amThey aren’t Muslim, and for over 1000 years virtually no Muslims consider them Muslim.
It’s pagans killing Muslims. And you can expect it to get much worse. The only thing that will avoid blood flowing in the streets, which will affect us, directly, is if the Pagans can kill enough Muslims to make them knuckle under. Which is beginning to look unlikely. If the Pagans lose their grip on the Tiger’s tail, they should flee the country because few will survive.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:30amLet’s see. Muslims want to destroy the US and now they are killing each other. Who has a problem with that.
Report Post »Gomek
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 4:49pmI agree. Although mankind has been fighting with one another since the begining, Muslims are the most prone to violent knee jerk type of behavior such as this. I KNOW, NOT ALL MUSLIMS are like this, but please send those that are NOT like this to the front and do some damage control for your religion.
Report Post »billybe123
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 6:25pmNot me lol Luv it.
Report Post »Magyar
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:48pmYup…couldn’t agree more! They’re doing such a good job–why interfere?
Report Post »Paul -Indiana
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 7:34pmOh, yeah ….. :-)
Report Post »Paul -Indiana
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 7:42pmRose-Ellen … “There are no absolutes except what people actually believe[yesterday then notion of gay marriage as a right would have been dismissed out of hand,etc].”
Report Post »=======
It’s still dismissed out of hand. BTW, your fury at Pagans killing Muslims is funny. After all, the Muslims think everyone else should convert or die. Maybe the Pagans think the same. Wouldn‘t that be an ’absolute’ according to your own words?
Dismayed Veteran
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:27amLet’s see. The people who want to destroy the US are killing each other. Whose got a problem with that.
Report Post »Msgt Ret
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 9:47amNot I my friend, Not I.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 11:22amYou have to admire how the Aliwites have managed to play everyone off against each other, and despite being polytheistic Pagans, and only 10% of the population, can slaughter the Muslims wholesale and no one, including the Muslims do anything about it. Even the Sunnis, and it’s Sunnis they are killing, say the US is being too harsh on the poor pagan Aliwites.
Iran has it’s Shiite ally, and ignoring that even Shiite theologians never considered them Monotheistic, much less Muslim or Shiite. But it serves their interests.
Israel is ok with it, since Aliwites don’t care about the Golan Heights or Pals. About the most peaceful border they have.
The west and other non-Muslim ethnic minorities like Christians are ok with it since they fear oppression from the Muslims if they took control. Aliwites keep the Muslims under their thumbs.
And even the Sunni Muslims, who have always considered them pagans, stand by and do nothing as their fellow Sunnis are ruled and slaughtered by Pagans. The rulers of most Sunni countries fear the Muslim Brotherhood they are slaughtering more than Pagans. Plus, they are military weaklings, and only Israel prevents the Shiites from marching to Mecca and taking it over. Better to pretend you don’t care than have it exposed you are too weak to do anything about it.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:45amThe ones doing the shooting aren’t Muslims, they are Pagans. Aliwites. Only in modern times have they even remotely been considered Muslims by anyone.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:50amMuslims never considered them Muslim, Hadiths say if you find one alone, you are supposed to hit them in the head with a rock.
Those that have studied history, it’s the same thing as the Spartans and the Helots. Outnumbered 10 to 1, they maintain power by constant terror and far greater and military training and ability.. The Pagan Aliwites are tough cookies and may well be able to kill all the Muslims and no one will be able to do anything about it.
Report Post »Jack2011
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 1:03pmWhoever is shooting muslims – GOOD!
We need to stay out of it.
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:35amLook, another Muslim peaceful gathering. ROSE-ELLEN’s best buddies sure know how to party!
ROSE typed: “…if people believe they are free ,they are free. the minute they don’t feel free they are not free.”
What drugs are you taking? You think freedom is a “feeling” and ONLY in your mind? Get help.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:12amThis is the promise and the flower of Islam.
Syria was not always under the yoke of Islam.
If you do not quickly discern the deception and death inherent in the Islamic system, it will eventually consume the planet.
Stop the Jihad on Planet Earth
Stop killing apostates
Stop Sharia
Stop the deception that is Islam
For nations not currently suffering under the brutality of Islam, this must be done:
Deport all muslims
Close all mosques
Outlaw Islam
Jihad is real and it kills more individuals in one day than any other system of social control ever devised. It is that which worships death and practices evil.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:25amSo true.. Islam is the greatest threat to World peace ever known. Always has been, always will until abolished. It’s not a religion. It is a political system of subjugation and punishment..
Report Post »JD Carp
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:12amWhat a marvelous religion. The first day of their holiest month they set about killing each other in great big bleeding batches.
Report Post »SREGN
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 1:03pmAny religion where murder constitutes holiness would have to be a religion of Satan.
Report Post »RodT82721
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:09amThis is why our founders gave us the 2nd amendment. They knew that power corrupts, and to control the masses they must first be unarmed.
Report Post »Eric Holder and dear leader worked out a plan to push their version of ‘get the guns’. They called if Fast & Furious. They figured with the help of their media and that Brady bunch they might have a chance to start the progressive ‘gun control’ program. Don’t think for a minute they will ever give up.
Tony
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:02amSave one tiny ME nation, the one the Obama Administration distains, none of these countries share our values, none really want a western style democracy, none respect minorities unless they are needed to hold power, and none will tolerate any religion save their own. Bring our troops home and put them on the Southern border.
I think it is time to start producing so much of our own oil (we have more than any other nation) that we not only become totally independent, we drive the world price down thereby defunding these terrorist backing countries. And why are we not? The Democrat Progressive Caucus and Obama, thats why.
Report Post »affinnity
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:00amIf America minds our own business and doesn’t help or supply weapons to anyone we may be able to just sit back and watch these idiots exterminate themselves. This is good.
Report Post »Christian Kalgaard
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:53amSome people are just so blood stupid its amazing
Report Post »Jack2011
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:48amAs long as it is muslims killing muslims – I don’t care.
Report Post »affinnity
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:55amI agree.
Report Post »rabblechat
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:28amI have yet to see anything out of Libya that comes close to the violence against citizens as what we have seen in Syria, Yemen and numerous other countries in central Africa. If we are truly worried about protecting citizens then why aren’t we supporting a “No fly zone” over Syria?
Report Post »With that being said, I don’t think we should be in Libya either but this article just illustrates the hypocrisy of our leadership.
dabbo
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:19amYeah it’s kinda hard to choose sides on this one….brutal dictator or the allah akbar crowd.
Oh I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing Bashar Assad swinging from the end of a rope….at least then the people would have more time for “Death to America” rallies.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:16amIf there is a “center of revolt” and that is where the at5tacks are concentrated — WHO and WHAT are the “revolt”? Muslim Brotherhood? – I’ll take Assad! And so will the Syrian people..
Report Post »Obama has set this up as something the Syrian people will hate America for either way – especially if the Brotherhood gets in. And the Alinsky Czars will show them exactly how!
Obama has seen to it that the Iranian public hates us even more than they do over losing the Shah to the Mullahs.
Steve
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:11amHey, That’s just the way Islam rolls. Always has always will.
So someone once again tell me why we’re in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq?
Report Post »Fina Biscotti
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:36amObama has brought this to Egypt – conspiring w The Muslim Brotherhood.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:16amThese stupid Arab‘s wouldn’t know what to do with freedom. They’ve been told what to do for generations by either a dictator or a monarch. It is all they know, and all they ever will know …
Report Post »rose-ellen
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:02amWhat is freedom? Not what a dictator or monarch tells them is freedom[out culture] but if people believe they are free ,they are free. the minute they don’t feel free they are not free. it’s not about their culture, or penal codes or laws but what indigenous people truly believe. There are no absolutes except what people actually believe[yesterday then notion of gay marriage as a right would have been dismissed out of hand,etc].
Report Post »Fina Biscotti
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:35amWithout notice – Obama set up a US Ambassador in Syria.
Is he still alive?
Report Post »chazman
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 4:34pm@ROSE-ELLEN
Did you forget to take yer MEDS again? You drink yer Kool Aid, take yer pills and go watch Sesame Street, Rose baby!
Report Post »IAMNOTKNOWING
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:44pmSend Nancy back over in her “gift-Turbin” to smooth out all the boo-boos.
Maybe she could take a few cases of wine from her private vineyards?
Report Post »DAYWATCHER
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:31amI completely agree with you STARMAN70.
Report Post »Glenn is Right
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:30amThe people of Syria must stand against this tyranny.
Report Post »I think every Muslim in Syria should protest against tanks and rifles with only the armor of God to protect them.
Sing Praise Allah! and Allah is Great! Until the 120mm shell strikes you down.
Iman Barak Hussein
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:26amIt’s a dictator trying to stop radical islamists from taking control.
Report Post »That‘s what’s coming to Egypt and Libya.
I have to believe the in this case, a dictator, no matter how ruthless, is a better choice for humanity than radical extremist islamics who are hell bent on world domination and death to all Christians and Jews.
sodacrackers2
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:15amThat may be our last choice also, but the dictator was be an Islamist, just like theirs was.
Report Post »sodacrackers2
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:15amwill be
Report Post »starman70
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:17amMoslem against Moslem – - – - another shining example of the “Religion of Peace”. This is only a microcosm of what the world will look like if the Islamists are allowed to gain power on a worldwide basis.
Report Post »Obama Bin Lying
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 8:41amAnd unfiortunately, the Apppeaser in Chief wants to deal with these people, and let them gain a foot hold because he is afraid of offending C.A.I.R and their ilk
Report Post »rose-ellen
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 9:55amIf you believe dictators have the right to massacre people then you have adopted the nazi/commie /fascist ideologies and are 21st c genocidists and the biggest threat to humanity on the planet.That it was posted yesterday the alawites who are goons for the syrian dictator are PAGANS not muslims,[ i smelled a rat in all this all along] and that we have rendered people to them to be tortured and that you now support an alawite, dictator who [if true] is really in league with pagan forces shows how genocidal hatred of a people[muslims] leads to diabolical collusion.Your obsession with the muslim brotherhood[an anti colonial movement]has led you to support ancient demonic pagan mid east forces[Mithraism-a truely diabolical ancient religion] as you claim to be doing the Lord”s work; just shows when you fall prey to the evil of genocidal hatred it is not surprising that you end up in league with [from a chrisitan persective]diabolical forces like the ancient mid east religion of mithra. [the drinking of Christ's blood in the eucharist was taken by Jesus from the Mithra religion of human sacrifice to the their god[the bull]Christ became the last and only acceptable sacrifice but you in your genocidal hatred of muslims are complicit with a pagan regimes using followers of Mithra to sacrifice dissidents to keep this pagan dictator in power. And fellow chrisitans[desended from the early chrisitan] are themselves tortured and killed by this pagan you out of genocidal hatred support
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 10:15amMuslims are pagans and Allah is a pagan deity.
Islam is a deception.
Report Post »Greenwood
Posted on August 1, 2011 at 6:25pmROSE_ELLEN ………..you are bloviating again……………….
Report Post »Mike_ I agree muslims are pagans ( * ………..the moon and the daystar ( Venus )
nysparkie
Posted on August 2, 2011 at 8:18amAll done by that peaceful religion named Islam. Imagine that. Muslim vs. Muslim. Just like the old MAD Magazine.
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