Assad’s Syria used mass arrests, torture, and massacre to suppress opposition

Evidence

At the time Hafez al-Assad’s Syria was anything but fertile. Embroiled in violence, the nation saw Assad’s iron fist battering his growing and increasingly daring opposition. Bombings against the regime were frequent, as were mass arrests and torture. It all culminated in the 1982 massacre in the city of Hama, where tens of thousands were viciously killed. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 70

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader story arc of Bayoumi’s book about Arab-American lives, and to histories of authoritarian crackdowns (e.g., the 1982 Hama massacre figures in many Syrian refugee narratives).
• CANDY: The 1982 Hama massacre killing tens of thousands is a striking, little-known historical data point good for conversation.