Written By Mouaz Moustafa
WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 25th marks the ninth anniversary of the Syrian regime attack in the town of Houla in Syria. On May 25th, 2012 at 1 p.m. the Syrian regime and allied forces attacked peaceful protesters in Harmoush Square utilizing tanks, heavy artillery, and live fire. That evening from 6 to 7 p.m., the Assad regime brought large military divisions alongside shabihah (regime paramilitary militias). They arrived and besieged the neighborhood of Alsad, and proceeded to enter house by house executing entire families. They systematically murdered the children, women and men, in that order, utilizing knives, machetes and axes to slaughter the families. The Assad forces intentionally left one survivor per family with the aim of instilling terror amongst Syrian civilians.
Six hours after the massacre, multiple cars of shabihah and security forces arrived at another neighborhood in Houla, and murdered the entire el-Sayed family. The only survivor, 11-year old Ali el-Sayed, described the events to Al Jazeera: “My mother yelled at them: ‘Why are you taking them?’ my brother and my uncles. Then the military went in and my mother was afraid because they were pointing their guns at her. They shot five bullets at her, then they shot my brother – one in here [points to the head] and one in the back. Then I was covering myself, he came and took the cover off me and then he shot at me”. El-Sayed survived by pretending to be dead, but he said he clearly remembered the attackers and that he knew they were military because he saw them come out of a tank parked outside. He explains that eleven of the security forces went into his house, some of them wearing army fatigues.
The Houla Massacre left 113 civilians dead -including 56 children and 30 women, as well as 300 injured. Nine years after this terrible massacre, we remember the names of the innocent children, men and women so mercilessly slaughtered by the Assad Regime. SETF continues to stand with the innocent civilians that have been killed and continue to be targeted everyday in Syria.
We remember:
Ea’tidal Faisal Abdul Razzaq
Adel Aref Al-Sayyed
Muna Mostafa Abdul Razzaq
Abdul Rahman Firas Abdul Razzaq
Adel Uqbah Al-Sayyed
Amna Shafiq Abdul Razzaq
Suleiman Khaled Abdul Razzaq
Yunus Uqbah Al-Sayyed
Fatima Adnan Abdul Razzaq
Suleiman Shaalan Abdul Razzaq
Haider Uqbah Al-Sayyed
Amna Mustafa Abdul Razzaq
Samir Shaalan Abdul Razzaq
Shahed Qutaiba Abdul Razzaq
Ea’tidal Shafiq Abdul Razzaq
Ratib Shaalan Abdul Razzaq
Safaa Ayman Abdul Razzaq
Abeer Yasser Abdul Razzaq
Yasser Adel Abdul Razzaq
Fatima Shaalan Abdul Razzaq
Sawsan Samir Abdul Razzaq
Abdul Khaleq Khalid Abdul Razzaq
Manal Rateb Abdul Razzaq
Rafida Shafiq Abdul Razzaq
Halloum Khaled Abdul Razzaq
Juzail Samir Abdul Razzaq
Kholoud Hussein Al-Kurdi
Hamza Firas Abdul Razzaq
Nada Samir Abdul Razzaq
Halloum Khaled Al-Kurdi
Ammar Adnan Abdul Razzaq
Amira Isaac Abdul Razzaq
Raghda Saeed Bakour
Mohammed Adel Abdul Razzaq
Nour Faisal Abdul Razzaq
Safira Mohammed Ismail
Amir Isaac Abdul Razzaq
Nour Obeida Abdul Razzaq
Fatima Ahmed Abdel Aal
Samir Alaa Abdul Razzaq
Yasmine Adel Abdel Razzaq
Badriya Qaddour Al-Mousa
Abdullah Ayman Abdul Razzaq
Sidra Faisal Abdul Razzaq
Fadia Ashraf Harmoush
Yassin Nidal Abdul Razzaq
Rahaf Muhammad Al-Hussein
Dalal Abbas Abida
Uday Adnan Abdul Razzaq
Sara Muawiya Al-Sayyed
Zainab A’rouk
Khaled Obeida Abdul Razzaq
Rasha Aref Al-Sayyed
Fayrouz Ali Al-Daher
Hazem Obeida Abdul Razzaq
Israa Uqbah Al-Sayyed
Razina Rajab Al-Sayyed
Mohammed Obeida Abdul Razzaq
Zahra Abdul Khaleq Abdul Razzaq
Fadia Abdul Hamid Harmoush
Yasser Nidal Abdul Razzaq
Falak Ayman Hasan Abdul Razzaq
Khaled Abdul Rahman Abdul Razzaq
Ammar Adel Abdul Razzaq
Falak Abdul Khaleq Abdul Razzaq
Abdul Rahman Khalid Abdul Razzaq
Bassam Al-Suwayi
Zainab Mustafa Abdul Razzaq
Abdul Khaleq Abdul Razzaq
Hazem Bassam Al-Suwayi
Rateebah Hasan Abdul Razzaq
Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Abdul Razzaq
Jaber Bassam Al-Suwayi
Bayan Abdul Halim Abdul Razzaq
Firas Ayman Hasan Abdul Razzaq
Hatem Bassam Al-Suwayi
Bayan Muhammad Abdul Razzaq
Samir Hussein Abdul Razzaq
Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Kurdi
Feryal Abdul Rahman Abdul Razzaq
Mustafa Hussein Abdul Razzaq
Omar Mahmoud Al-Kurdi
Ruqaya Khalid Abdul Razzaq
Saeed Faisal Abdul Razzaq
Mahmoud Fadi Al-Kurdi
Salma Abdul Rahman Abdul Razzaq
Muawiya Ahmed Al-Sayyed
Fadi Mahmoud Al-Kurdi
Huda Samir Abdul Razzaq
Ahmed Muawiya Al-Sayyed
Nader Aref Al-Sayyed
Aisha Abdul Khaleq Abdul Razzaq
Mahmoud Al-Kurdi
Aref Mohammed Al-Sayyed
Uqbah Muhammad Al-Sayyed
Shawky Adel Al-Sayyed
Mohammed Ahmed Al-Sayyed
Abdul-Jabbar Abdul-Hay
Hussam Ali Al-Orabi
Talal Bakour
Osama Abul Rahman Al-Faris
Mamoun Barbar Al-Masri
Muhammad Al-Sahib
Muhammad Shafiq Abbarah
Ghiath Abdul Samad Al-Suleiman
Ammar Abdul Jawad Abbarah
Raed Isaac Al-Zakahi
Yaqoub Hussein Abdul Razzaq
Halloum Khaled Ismail
Khawla Aref Al-Sayyed
Ali Adel Al-Sayyed
Ghiath Ayman Hasan Abdul Razzaq
Maya Abdul Razzaq