The following is the List of massacres in Ottoman Syria, mass atrocities committed during the Ottoman rule in Syrian provinces (region roughly corresponding the Levant) between 1517 and 1918.
Name | Date | Location | Responsible Party | Deaths | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1517 Hebron attacks | 1517 | Hebron | Turkish soldiers | Unknown | Jews were attacked, beaten, and raped, and many were killed in their homes[1] |
Massacre of the Telal | 1517 | Aleppo | Turkish soldiers upon Selim I's order | 9,400 [2] | Fatwas issued against the Nusayris (or 'Alawites') that declared them infidels. Around 9,400 Nusayris who assembled in Aleppo were all executed.[3] |
1517 Safed attacks | 1517 | Safed | Mamluk supporters | Unknown | Many Jews subsequently fled the city[4] |
1757 Hajj caravan raid | September-October 1757 | Qatraneh | Bedouin highwaymen | ~20,000 Hajjis killed or died of starvation/thirst | |
Siege of Jaffa | 7 March 1799 | Jaffa | Napoleon's Army | 2,440–4,100 | Ottoman prisoners were executed on the beaches south of the town. Many of the civilian population of the town were also killed.[5] |
1834 Hebron pogrom | 1834 | Hebron | Egyptian troops | Over 500 | Egyptian soldiers did not distinguish between inhabitants; for three hours, troops plundered, killed, raped and maimed Hebronites both Muslim and Jewish.[6] |
1834 Safed pogrom | 1834 | Safed | Arab rioters | unknown | Reports detail torture and mass-rape of Jewish population[7] |
Aleppo Massacre | October to November 1850 | Aleppo | Muslim rioters | 5,000[8] | Attacks on Christian neighborhoods in Aleppo |
1860 Druze-Maronite massacre | July 9–11, 1860 | Damascus | Druze and Sunni Muslim paramilitary groups | 25,000[9] | Organized pogroms against Maronite Christians; 326 villages, 560 churches, 28 colleges, 42 convents, and 9 other religious establishments were completely destroyed |
Tafas massacre | September 17, 1918 | Tafas | Ottoman army | 250 | Ottoman Army perform a massacre of civilians upon retreat in order to demoralize French and British troops, as well as their allies. |
Surafend affair | December 10, 1918 | Sarafand al-Amar | ANZAC Mounted Division | 50 | Australian and New Zealand troops massacred the town after one of their officers was murdered by a local. |