As a service to our readers, here are some of the horrendous massacres I remember. This is by all means not an exhaustive list, it is just off the top of my head, drop me a line if you want to add to this list. Descriptions below are taken from Wikipedia.
1. Black September (Jordan, 1970)
September 1970 is known as the Black September (Arabic: أيلول الأسود) in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events." It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the autonomy of Palestinian organizations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country.[2] The violence resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the vast majority Palestinian.[1] Armed conflict lasted until July 1971 with the expulsion of the PLO and thousands of Palestinian fighters to Lebanon.
2. The Hamma Massacre (Syria, 1982)
The Hama massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حماة) occurred on February 2, 1982 when the Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood. An estimated 7000 to 25,000 people were killed, including about 1000 soldiers. [1]
According to Amnesty International, the Syrian military bombed the old streets of the city from the air to facilitate the introduction of military forces and tanks through the narrow streets, where homes were crushed by tanks during the first four days of fighting. They also claim that the Syrian military pumped poison gas into buildings where insurgents were said to be hiding. The army was mobilized, and Hafez again sent Rifaat's special forces and Mukhabarat agents to the city. After encountering fierce resistance, Rifaat's forces ringed the city with artillery and shelled it for three weeks. Afterward, military and internal security personnel were dispatched to comb through the rubble for surviving Brothers and their sympathizers.[3] Then followed several weeks of torture and mass executions of suspected rebel sympathizers, killing many thousands, known as the Hama Massacre. Estimates of casualties vary from an estimated 7000 to 35,000 people killed, including about 1000 soldiers. [4] Journalist Robert Fisk, who was in Hama shortly after the massacre, estimated fatalities as high as 10,000.[5] The New York Times estimated the death toll as up to 20,000.[2] According to Thomas Friedman[6] Rifaat later boasted of killing 38,000 people. The Syrian Human Rights Committee estimates 30,000 to 40,000 were killed. Most of the old city was completely destroyed, including its palaces, mosques, ancient ruins and the famous Azzem Palace mansion. After the Hama uprising, the Islamist insurrection was broken, and the Brotherhood has since operated in exile.
3. Sabra and Shatila Massacre (Lebanon, 1982)
The Sabra and Shatila massacre was carried out between 16 and 18 September 1982 by the Lebanese Forces militia group after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) allowed Lebanese Christian Phalangist militiamen to enter two Palestinian refugee camps, and the militia massacred civilians inside. It was argued that the Israelis should have known that a massacre could occur, considering the assassination of Phalangist leader and prospective president Bachir Gemayel two days before, and given the long history of bad blood between the Palestinians and the Phalangists.
The exact number killed is a matter of dispute, with estimates ranging from hundreds to thousands. The number of victims of the massacre varies according to source: the lowest estimate is 328; the highest is placed at 3,5004. The Halabja Attack (Iraq, 1988)
The Halabja poison gas attack occurred in the period 16–17 March 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War. Chemical weapons (CW) were used by the Iraqi government forces in the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja, killing thousands of people, most of them civilians (3,200-5,000 dead on the spot and 7,000-10,000 injured[1]). Thousands more died of horrific complications, diseases, and birth defects in the years after the attack.[2]
The incident, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) defined as an act of genocide, was as of 2008 the largest-scale chemical weapons attack directed against a civilian-populated area in history.
(as an aside, Iraq also used chemical weapons on Iranian civilians, killing many in villages and hospitals. Many civilians suffered severe burns and health problems, and still suffer from them. Furthermore, 308 Iraqi missiles were launched at population centers inside Iranian cities between 1980 and 1988 resulting in 12,931 casualties).And no - I am not suggesting this as justification to the current atrocities in Gaza. I am merely offering some perspective.
