1964 Hama riot

Part of the Arab Cold War

Date	April 1964
Location	Hama, Syria
Result	Insurrection suppressed

Belligerents

Syrian Government

Ba'ath Party (Military Committee)

Muslim Brotherhood

Commanders and leaders

Amin al-Hafiz
President of Syria
Prime Minister of Syria

Hamad Ubayd
Commander of National Guard

Issam al-Attar
Supreme Guide of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood
Mahmud al-Hamid
Imam of Sultan Mosque

Casualties and losses

N/A

70-100 dead
Several wounded and imprisoned.

The 1964 Hama riot was the first significant clash between the newly installed Ba'ath Party leadership of Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood. It occurred in April 1964, after the 1963 Ba'athist coup d'état. The insurrection was suppressed with heavy military force, resulting in 70-100 mortal casualties and partial destruction of the old Hama city neighborhoods. Hama continued to be a center of Islamists and a focal point of the 1976-1982 Islamist uprising in Syria.

Background

Syria

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The first clash between the Ba'ath party and the Islamic Brotherhood occurred shortly after the 1963 coup, in which the Ba'ath party gained power in Syria. The Islamist political groups, of which the Brotherhood was the most prominent, presented the most significant challenge to the Ba'athists, who had suppressed their Nasserist and Marxist rivals by mid-1963. The outlawing of Brotherhood in 1964 strongly contributed to the movement's radicalization. In 1964 and 1965, strikes and mass demonstrations spread throughout Syria's major cities, especially in Hama, and were crushed by the military.

The town of Hama in particular was a "stronghold of landed conservatism and of the Muslim Brothers," and "had long been a redoubtable opponent of the Ba'athist state," according to Syria expert Patrick Seale. The governments of Egypt and Iraq financially supported opposition to the Ba'athists although countrywide discontent was high nonetheless from the stagnation of the economy, merchants resenting the increasing regulations, incompetent governance, and resentment of the Ba'athist government's secretive decision-making.^[1]

Riot

In April 1964 major disturbances occurred in several Syrian cities, with Hama forming the epicenter of the anti-government insurrection. Islamist insurgents in the city set up "roadblocks, stockpiled food and weapons, ransacked wine shops."^[1] The rebels were encouraged to revolt against the Baathists by the imam of the Sultan Mosque, Shaykh Mahmud al-Habib, and were financed by some of the city's traditional merchant families. After Munzir al-Shimali, an Ismaili Ba'athist militiaman, was killed and mutilated by rioters, riots intensified and rebels attacked "every vestige" of the Ba'ath party in Hama.^[1]

Hamad Ubayd, the commander of the Baathist-dominated National Guard, called for and received tank support and reinforcements from the Syrian Army. Subsequently, neighborhoods where the rebels held sway were attacked with tank and artillery fire, forcing the rebels to withdraw into the Sultan Mosque after two days of fighting. President Amin al-Hafiz ordered for the rebels to be eliminated, and the mosque was subsequently bombarded, destroying the minaret where many of the rebels were positioned. The security forces thus managed to suppress the uprising.^[1] Some 70-100 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed,^[2]^[3] with many others wounded or captured and still more disappearing underground.^[1]^[2]

Aftermath

Main article: Hama massacre

Further information: Islamic uprising in Syria and Syrian Civil War

A tribunal was set up to try imprisoned insurgents and was headed by Mustafa Tlass. Some prisoners were released, including Marwan Hadid, who was instrumental in organizing a second Islamist uprising in Hama years later.^[1] The shelling of the Sultan Mosque had outraged many Syrian Muslims and numerous countrywide strikes and demonstrations were held in protest. The opposition to the Ba'ath was wide-ranging, and included merchants, professionals, laborers and craftsmen and brought together poor Sunni Muslims from the countryside, members of the middle class and the traditional political and social elites. Hafiz felt compelled to resign in favor of a civilian politician, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, who was a member of the Ba'ath Party, but not from the officer corps. Al-Bitar publicly promised to protect civil liberties and announced a new provisional constitution. Bitar and other civilian members of the Ba'ath, such as Michel Aflaq, still held little sway over governmental decisions and both resigned from the government, with al-Hafiz re-occupying the prime minister post.^[4]

The events in Hama also caused a rupture within the Military Committee, the secretive junta that held prominent influence in the Syrian government since the 1963 coup. Muhammad Umran, the senior member of the Committee, disapproved of the severity of the assault on Hama and the subsequent bloodshed, while Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad strongly supported Hafiz's handling of the riots, viewing it as a necessary means to protect Ba'athist power against "class enemies."^[5]

In early 1980s, Hama became the epicenter of the countrywide Islamist uprising. The city experienced a massacre in April 1981, with hundreds killed. The situation deteriorated further in early February 1982, when Islamist groups took over the city. In the ensuing army operation to oust them, most of Hama was destroyed and thousands of its residents were killed. Some three decades later, in the Syrian Civil War, Muslim Brotherhood-related groups were blamed by the Ba'athist-dominated government for taking an active part in the uprising. Hama experienced another massacre in July–August 2011, following its blockade.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 Seale, 1990, pp. 92–93.
1 2 Dumper, Stanley, and Abu-Lughod, 2007, p.164.
↑ James A.Paul et al. Human Rights in Syria. Middle East Watch Organization, 1990: p.10.
↑ Seale, 1990, p. 94.
↑ Seale, 1990, pp. 94–95.

Bibliography

Dumper, Michael; Stanley, Bruce E.; Abu-Lughod, Janet L. (2007), Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 9781576079195
Seale, Patrick (1990). Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06976-3.

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

1910s	World War I Middle Eastern theatre Arab Revolt Armenian Genocide Assyrian Genocide Unification of Saudi Arabia Simko Shikak revolt Egyptian Revolution of 1919 Turkish War of Independence Greco-Turkish War Turkish–Armenian War Franco-Turkish War Revolts Mahmud Barzanji revolts

1920s	Franco-Syrian War Iraqi revolt against the British Sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine Adwan Rebellion Arab separatism in Khuzestan Great Syrian Revolt Sheikh Said rebellion

1930s	Ararat rebellion Ahmed Barzani revolt Simele massacre Saudi–Yemeni War Goharshad Mosque rebellion 1935–36 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Yazidi revolt Dersim massacre

1940s	World War II Italian bombing of Palestine Anglo-Iraqi War Syria–Lebanon Campaign Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran 1943 Barzani revolt Alwaziri coup Al-Wathbah uprising Kurdish separatism in Iran Iran crisis of 1946 Arab–Israeli conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict

1950s	Egyptian Revolution of 1952 1953 Iranian coup d'état Jebel Akhdar War Cypriot ethnic crisis Yemeni–Adenese clan violence 1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 Iraqi revolution 1959 Mosul uprising

1960s	Iraqi–Kurdish conflict Dhofar Rebellion North Yemen Civil War White Revolution Feb. 1963 Iraqi coup 8th March Syrian Revolution Nov. 1963 Iraqi coup Aden Emergency 1964 Hama riot 1966 Syrian coup d'état

1970s	Black September in Jordan 1972 North Yemen–South Yemen war Turkish invasion of Cyprus Lebanese Civil War Political violence in Turkey (1976–80) Libyan–Egyptian War Islamist uprising in Syria NDF Rebellion Iranian Revolution Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution Khuzestan conflict 1979 Qatif Uprising Grand Mosque Seizure

1980s	Sadr uprising (1980) Iran–Iraq War 1980 Turkish coup d'état Turkey-PKK conflict South Yemen Civil War 1986 Egyptian Conscription Riot 1986 Damascus bombings Mecca massacre Abu Nidal's executions

1990s	Gulf War (1990–1991) 1991 uprisings in Iraq Terror campaign in Egypt (1990s) 1994 civil war in Yemen Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia (2000–present) Operation Desert Fox al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq

2000s	Iraq War Balochi insurgency in Iran 2004 al-Qamishli riots Houthi insurgency in Yemen Iran–Israel proxy conflict Fatah–Hamas conflict Nahr al-Bared fighting 2008 conflict in Lebanon South Yemen insurgency 2009–10 Iranian election protests

2010s	Arab Spring Yemeni Revolution Bahraini uprising Egyptian Crisis Arab Winter Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon American-led intervention Sinai insurgency Iraqi insurgency (2011–13) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) American-led intervention Military intervention against ISIL Yemeni Crisis Yemeni Civil War

This list includes post-Ottoman conflicts (after 1918) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic and conflict with most Casualties with bold.

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