Hama Governorate clashes (2011–2012)

Last updated

2011–2012 Hama Governorate clashes
Part of the Early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War
Date1 September 2011 - 14 April 2012
(7 months, 1 week and 6 days)
Location
Hama Governorate
Result

Temporary nation-wide cease-fire

  • Government forces largely clear rebels from Hama city
  • Ongoing low-level insurgency in countryside
Belligerents
Flag of Syria 2011, observed.svg Free Syrian Army
Flag of Syria 2011, observed.svg Opposition protesters

Flag of Syria.svg Syrian Arab Republic

Units involved
Unknown
Strength
12,000 protesters and fighters 3,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
1,403 opposition protesters and FSA fighters killed* [1] 120 killed [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
  • number includes civilians

The Hama Governorate clashes were a series of incidents of fighting during late 2011 and early 2012 in the Syrian Governorate of Hama, as part of the Early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War.

Contents

2011

September

The Attorney General of the Hama Governorate announced his resignation on 1 September in response to the government crackdown on protests. The government claimed he had been kidnapped and forced to lie at gunpoint. [7]

November

On 14 November, SANA, state controlled media, reported that 13 soldiers were killed in Hama. [8] By 17 November, the protests seemed to have calmed down, and the city was under government control. The streets were still littered with burnt out vehicles and police checkpoints were dotted around the city, despite the return to relative clam [9] However, the same day, security forces carried out raids on homes looking for military defectors and made arrests. [10]

December

On 9 December, Hama saw the largest anti government protests in the city since August. [11]

At least six members of the security forces were reported killed in Hama on 11 December in clashes with the opposition. Syrian authorities claimed to have arrested a suspected terrorist who was trying to plant a bomb near a residential building. [5] There were also reports that several civilians had been shot, although it was not specified whether they were wounded or killed. [12]

Loyalist soldiers reportedly fired upon a civilian car on 14 December, killing five people, in response, the Free Syrian Army staged an ambush against a loyalist convoy consisting of four jeeps, killing eight soldiers. [13]

Pro Assad forces stormed the city on 14 December in an effort to put down the protests, resulting in at least ten civilian fatalities. Clashes broke out when the Free Syrian Army attempted to halt the incursion, and at least two armoured vehicles were disabled by the rebels during a battle at Hadid Bridge. [14] Activists said that tanks opened fire with machineguns and troops burnt shops that adhered to the oppositions strike. [15]

Soldiers shot six protests to death, on 29 December, as Arab League monitors arrived in the city. [16]

2012

January

Nine protesters in Hama were killed by security forces gunfire on 7 January 2012. [17]

On 7 January 2012, Colonel Afeef Mahmoud Suleima of the Syrian Air Force logistics division defected from Bashar al-Assads government along with at least fifty of his men, and announced his defection on live television and ordered his men to protect protesters in the city of Hama. "We are from the army and we have defected because the government is killing civilian protesters. The Syrian army attacked Hama with heavy weapons, air raids and heavy fire from tanks...We ask the Arab League observers to come visit areas affected by air raids and attacks so you can see the damage with your own eyes, and we ask you to send someone to uncover the three cemeteries in Hama filled with more than 460 corpses." Colonel Suleima said in a statement. [18]

On 25 January, Syrian army troops raided opposition controlled districts Bab Qebli, Hamidiyeh and Malaab killing at least 7 people, reportedly using artillery and sniper fire in the process. [19]

At least 17 bodies were found with bullet wounds to the head on 28 January, which activists claim had been caused by Pro government forces when they launched an armoured raid into the city. At least one of those executed was a police deserter. [20]

By late January 2012 activists said that four neighbourhoods in Hama were under opposition control. [21]

February

Situation in Hama, mid-March 2012 Hama (March 15 2012).svg
Situation in Hama, mid-March 2012

According to Reuters, five government troops were killed "in clashes with rebel fighters in Qalaat al-Madyaq town in restive Hama area". [22] Activists state that 10 FSA fighters were killed by the Syrian army in Kafr Nabudah in the Hama province. [23] According to Syrian state TV, gunmen clashed with soldiers, causing the death of an officer and a sergeant and the injury of a corporal. [24]

On 15 February, five soldiers were killed and nine were wounded during fighting with army deserters at Qalaat al-Madiq, in the central province of Hama. [25]

On 28 February 2012, government forces shelled a town in Hama Province, Halfaya, killing 20 civilian villagers. Activists said the 20 deaths of Sunni Muslim villagers there were among at least 100 killed in the province in the last two weeks in government revenge attacks against innocent civilians. [26]

March

By 27 March, the opposition had been controlling towns such as Qalaat al-Madiq and surrounding villages in Hama Province. Qalaat al-Madiq, a town with a historic castle that was shelled in the fighting was shelled by heavy barrages for 17 days. The army stormed the town with tanks. 4 civilians, 5 opposition fighters and 4 soldiers were said to have been killed but the group that reported this said that the army was still not in control of the town. [27]

Aftermath

Between the end of March and April, killings of soldiers in Hama continued. [28] [29] [30]

In April, there was a major explosion in an opposition-held Hama neighbourhood, although its cause and casualty figures were disputed: state media reported 16 people killed after “an explosive device went off while a terrorist group were setting it up in a house which was used to make explosives”; opposition activists said 70 civilians were massacred when a row of cement shanty homes collapsed following intense government shelling. [31]

The Syrian army engaged in heavy artillery shelling in Hama's suburbs. [32] The clashes in Hama started after the rebels attacked government military checkpoints. According to opposition claims, after the military reportedly suffered four dead, the government troops started to shell residential areas, killing 30-37 civilians. [33] [34]

A massacre of some 78 people occurred in the small village of Al-Qubeir near Hama on 6 June 2012. Many of the victims were women and children, as they were in the previous Houla massacre in the Homs region. [35] [36] [37]

State media claimed three rebels were killed by the Syrian army on 30 June. State media also stated that a rebel group led by Firas Imad al-Taa'meh had been decimated during clashes with the Army. [38]

On 7 July, the state media claimed at least two rebels were killed when they tried to attack an army patrol [39]

On 13 July, in Tremseh near Hama was bombarded by helicopter gunships and tanks and then stormed by militiamen who carried out execution-style killings; opposition activists said Assad forces killed more than 200, while State media blamed "terrorists". [40]

On 29 July, the state media claimed at least 5 rebels were killed in a clash with the army in the Hama countryside. [41]

In September-October, the opposition-held Masha al-Arb'een neighborhood, Hama, was demolished by government forces, with 40 acres razed. [42]

On 5 November, the Syrian Observatory and FSA fighters claimed that 50 government soldiers were killed when Islamist rebels from Jabhat al-Nusra bombed a checkpoint near Hama. If true, it would be one of the deadliest single attacks of the war. [43]

On 18 December, rebels fighters took control of the town of Halfaya near Hama. [44]

Related Research Articles

The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2011, including the escalation of violence in many Syrian cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Syrian Army</span> Big-Tent faction of opposition resistance militias in the Syrian Civil War

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a big-tent coalition of decentralized resistance militias in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Assad and six officers who defected from the Syrian Armed Forces. The officers announced that the immediate priority of the Free Syrian Army is to safeguard the lives of protestors and civilians from the deadly crackdown by Bashar al-Assad's security apparatus; with the ultimate goal of accomplishing the objectives of the Syrian revolution, namely, the end to the decades-long reign of the ruling al-Assad family. In late 2011, the FSA was the main Syrian military defectors group. Initially a formal military organization at its founding, its original command structure dissipated by 2016, and the FSA identity has since been used by various Syrian opposition groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deir ez-Zor clashes (2011–2014)</span> Conflict during the Syrian Civil War

Protests against the Syrian government and violence had been ongoing in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor since March 2011, as part of the wider Syrian Civil War, but large-scale clashes started following a military operation in late July 2011 to secure the city of Deir ez-Zor. The rebels took over most of the province by late 2013, leaving only small pockets of government control around the city of Deir ez-Zor.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian uprising from September to December 2011. This period saw the uprising take on many of the characteristics of a civil war, according to several outside observers, including the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as armed elements became better organized and began carrying out successful attacks in retaliation for the ongoing crackdown by the Syrian government on demonstrators and defectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Homs</span> Siege in Syria

The siege of Homs was a military confrontation between the Syrian military and the Syrian opposition in the city of Homs, a major rebel stronghold during the Syrian Civil War. The siege lasted three years from May 2011 to May 2014, and resulted in an opposition withdrawal from the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daraa Governorate clashes (2011–2013)</span> Series of military confrontations in Syria

The 2011–2013 Daraa Governorate clashes are a series of military confrontations between the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army in Daraa Governorate, Syria, which began in November 2011, after widescale protests and crackdown on protesters in Daraa had lasted since April 2011. The clashes had been ongoing as part of the Syrian civil war, until the U.N. brokered cease fire came into effect on 14 April 2012. Sporadic clashes continued since then, however.

The Rif Dimashq clashes were a series of unrests and armed clashes in and around Damascus, the capital of Syria, from November 2011 until a stalemate in March 2012. The violence was part of the wider early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War. Large pro-government and anti-government protests took place in the suburbs and center of Damascus, with the situation escalating when members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) started attacking military targets in November.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Aleppo Governorate clashes</span> 2012 series of battles

The 2012 Aleppo Governorate clashes were a series of battles as part of the early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war in the Aleppo Governorate of Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idlib Governorate clashes (September 2011 – March 2012)</span>

The September 2011 – March 2012 Idlib Governorate clashes were the violent incidents that took place in Idlib Governorate, a province of Syria, from September 2011 and prior to the April 2012 Idlib Governorate Operation.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2012, during which time the spate of protests that began in January 2011 lasted into another calendar year. An Arab League monitoring mission ended in failure as Syrian troops and anti-government militants continued to do battle across the country and the Syrian government prevented foreign observers from touring active battlefields, including besieged opposition strongholds. A United Nations-backed ceasefire brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan met a similar fate, with unarmed UN peacekeepers' movements tightly controlled by the government and fighting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Homs offensive</span>

The 2012 Homs offensive was a Syrian Army offensive on the armed rebellion stronghold of Homs, within the scope of the Siege of Homs, beginning in early February 2012 and ending with the U.N. brokered cease fire on 14 April 2012.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2012. The majority of death tolls reported for each day comes from the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition activist group based in Syria, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another opposition group based in London.

The Battle of Tremseh was a military confrontation between the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army in Tremseh, Syria, in the late hours of 12 July 2012 during the Syrian Civil War leading to the reported death of dozens of rebels, and an unknown number of civilians. On 14 July 2012, the UN observer mission issued a statement, based on the investigation by its team that went to the town, that the Syrian military mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, in what the BBC said was a contradiction of the initial opposition claims of a civilian massacre. They said that the number of casualties was unclear and added that they intend to return to the town to continue their investigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idlib Governorate clashes (June 2012–April 2013)</span>

The June 2012–April 2013 Idlib Governorate clashes was a series of clashes within the scope of the Syrian civil war, that took place in Syria's Idlib Governorate. The events followed the April 2012 Idlib Governorate Operation by the Syrian government and consequent cease-fire attempt, which had lasted from 14 April to 2 June 2012.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from August to December 2015. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war</span>

The early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war lasted from late July 2011 to April 2012, and was associated with the rise of armed oppositional militias across Syria and the beginning of armed rebellion against the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic. Though armed insurrection incidents began as early as June 2011 when rebels killed 120–140 Syrian security personnel, the beginning of organized insurgency is typically marked by the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on 29 July 2011, when a group of defected officers declared the establishment of the first organized oppositional military force. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel, the rebel army aimed to remove Bashar al-Assad and his government from power.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2019. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2020. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian civil war.

References

  1. ↑ "Syrian Martyrs" . Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "Scores killed as Syria requests change to Arab plan; Russia calls for 'restraint'". English.alarabiya.net. 18 November 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "More civilians killed by Syrian forces; U.N. voices alarm at torture of children". English.alarabiya.net. 25 November 2011. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "BBC News - Assad says Syria will not bow down to 'pressure'". Bbc.co.uk. 20 November 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Syrian Opposition: Bloodbath Could Be Imminent In Homs - News Story - NBCMontana NBC Montana". Nbcmontana.com. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.[ dead link ]
  6. ↑ Evans, Dominic (14 December 2011). "Syrian troops storm Hama to break anti-Assad strike". Reuters. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Syria unrest: Hama legal chief 'resigns over killings'". BBC News. 1 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "At least nine dead in Syria as regime pledges to free prisoners - The Irish Times - Sat, Nov 05, 2011". The Irish Times. 5 November 2011. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Syria's unrest-hit Hama gradually recovers from violence". News.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 30 November 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  10. ↑ "Syria: 'Mass detentions and beatings' in Hama". BBC News. 17 November 2011.
  11. ↑ "Syria's Regime & another Friday Protests". DayPress. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  12. ↑ "Yemen Forms Government as Egypt's Military Retreats Politically". Businessweek. 11 December 2011. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  13. ↑ "Syrian troops storm Hama to break anti-Assad strike". Reuters. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Syrian army attacks Hama". ABC News. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  15. ↑ "Syrian troops storm Hama to break anti-Assad strike". Thestar.com.my. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "Violence and doubts mar Syria monitor mission". Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  17. ↑ Gordon Corera (7 January 2012). "Syria unrest: Damascus blast and clashes kill many". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "Scores more soldiers defect from Syrian army". Al Jazeera. 7 January 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  19. ↑ Gordts, Eline (25 January 2012). "Syria Troops Storm Central City Of Hama". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  20. ↑ Yacoub, Khaled (28 January 2012). "Bodies of 17 prisoners found in Syrian city". Reuters. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  21. ↑ "AJE live blog". Blogs.aljazeera.net. 28 January 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  22. ↑ Solomon, Erika (14 February 2012). "Conflict flares across Syria, Arabs mull arms support". Reuters. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  23. ↑ "AFP: UN General Assembly condemns Syria crackdown". 16 February 2012. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  24. ↑ "Syrian Arab news agency - SANA - Syria : Syria news". Sana.sy. 20 February 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  25. ↑ "World" . Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  26. ↑ Craggs, Ryan (28 February 2012). "Syria Violence: Wounded Journalists Escape, Military Pounds Opposition Areas". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  27. ↑ Syrian forces storm central town [ dead link ]
  28. ↑ 2 Syrian colonels killed in attack in central city
  29. ↑ "Syria - Apr 23, 2012 - 18:01". Al Jazeera Blogs. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  30. ↑ "Syrian Arab news agency - SANA - Syria : Syria news ::". Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  31. ↑ AZMAT KHAN [Blast in Hama, Opposition Stronghold, Disrupts Fragile Syrian Ceasefire http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/rocket-attack-in-hama-opposition-stronghold-disrupts-fragile-syrian-ceasefire/], PBS, 26 April 2012
  32. ↑ "Shelling on Syria opposition center kills 30: activists". Reuters. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  33. ↑ Syria's Hama bears brunt as 90 killed Sunday: NGO
  34. ↑ "Syrian bombardment of Hama kills 41: opposition". Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  35. ↑ Gun battles rage in streets of Damascus – Middle East. Al Jazeera English (8 June 2012). Retrieved on 10 June 2012.
  36. ↑ Chulov, Martin (7 June 2012). "Syrian regime troops and militiamen 'seen walking towards massacre site'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  37. ↑ Karam, Zeina (9 June 2012). "Regime Denies Violence". Huffington Post. AP. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  38. ↑ "Syrian Arab news agency - SANA - Syria : Syria news ::". Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  39. ↑ "Syrian Arab news agency - SANA - Syria : Syria news ::". Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  40. ↑ "Syria crisis: Tremseh 'massacre' - Friday 13 July 2012". TheGuardian.com . 13 July 2012.
  41. ↑ http://208.43.232.81/eng/337/2012/07/29/433613.htm%5B%5D
  42. ↑ "Razed to the Ground: Syria's Unlawful Neighborhood Demolitions in 2012-2013". 30 January 2014.
  43. ↑ MacFarquhar, Neil (5 November 2012). "Dozens Are Killed in a Fierce Outburst of Syrian Violence". The New York Times. Beirut. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  44. ↑ "Syria rebels make further gains". BBC News. 18 December 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.