Massacre at Hula:
Complicity between the Syrian Dictatorship and the Great Powers

Jun 4, 2012

More than 100 people were found dead in Hula, Syria including 49 children and 25 women in early May. Kofi Annan, special representative of the United Nations, said he was “horrified” by this massacre. Condemnation of the Syrian regime poured in from every corner. The regime, as usual, blamed the massacre on “armed terrorist groups.”

Exactly what happened in Hula? According to the U.N., the massacre began with a government artillery and tank bombardment of a residential neighborhood in Hula. After that, it seems the rebel army, the Free Syrian Army, then shot back against two checkpoints manned by Assad’s troops. Then a pro-Assad militia, the Shabiha, attacked the Syrians in a working class neighborhood of Hula, using machetes and small arms to murder those they saw. Three hundred more civilians were wounded.

These victims are added to the long list of people Assad’s regime has killed, wounded or arrested since the start of this revolt a year ago. Assad clearly intends to keep power no matter the cost.

The imperialist countries point the finger at Russia and China for their support of the Syrian regime. Those two countries are simply less hypocritical than the Western powers, which, in the past, also supported Assad. The Syrian dictator played his part in maintaining imperialist order in the region. And, like Russia and China, the imperialist powers continue to accommodate him very well today, even if they pretend otherwise.

In order not to seem insensitive, as they appeared in the first months of the current wave of repression, the great powers, using the United Nations, drew up this pseudo-peace plan, which has yet to stop any massacres. All it means is that 300 observers were sent into Syria–proving useless from the start, offering only a pretense of peace–and a trap.

Inhabitants of Homs explained to the peace plan observers that they were shot at when they went into the streets to demonstrate. The observers told them to stay home. This shows how useful the peace plan is. It does nothing to convince the Assad regime to disarm, but instead it pushes the population in revolt to stop fighting back against this repressive regime. In other words, the plan benefits only Assad’s regime and the great powers.

In reality, this regime has met none of the commitments it made as part of the peace plan: it hasn’t stopped using heavy weapons against civilians and it hasn’t freed any political prisoners. Yet there has been no meaningful reaction from the great powers.

Meanwhile, the Syrian population pays dearly for the support the great powers gave and continue to give to the Syrian dictatorship.