Page 230 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

THE WINTER OF ISLAM AND THE SPRING TO COME
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Following independence, Syria became a nation of coups. They
began in 1949 and continued until 1970 with the one carried out by the
dictatorial Hafez Al-Assad. His regime put an end to the coups but
brought with it a repressive administration. The Baath government
ushered in a difficult time for Syrian Muslims. The country fell into the
hands of the Nusayri minority, who represented only 11 percent of the
population, and all other sects were removed from positions of influ-
ence. In a very short time the Assad regime, which described itself as a
"Socialist Popular Democracy," imposed despotic rule on the country.
All political parties were closed down, and it was forbidden to support
any other political view than the socialist ideology favored by the Baath
Party. Restrictions were imposed on all Islamic movements. The leaders
of those movements were arrested and savagely tortured to the point of
death. International human rights organization reports described how
Syrian Muslims were subjected to great oppression and suffering dur-
ing the Assad era, and how Muslim women were raped and unimagin-
able tortures inflicted on the men.

Cruelty and Oppression,

Hallmarks of the Assad Era
The first aim of the Baath regime was to eliminate the country's
Islamic identity. To that end, tens of thousands of Muslims were ar-
rested without cause and tortured. Most were then executed, and oth-
ers simply disappeared. The Assad regime
employed such measures as raping women,
beating them to death and hanging them by
their heels. It also attempted to wear down the
Muslim population by raiding houses, attack-
ing mosques, and inflicting insults and endless
harassment, and indeed it enjoyed consider-
able success in doing so.
The worst example of the savagery of the Ha fez Al-Assad
Assad regime was the massacre carried out in