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] | ||||||
1517 Safed attacks | 1517 | Safed | Muslim mobs | Unknown | Many Jews subsequently fled the city[2] | ||||||
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.[3] | ||||||
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 Muslim and Jew alike.[4] | ||||||
1834 Safed pogrom | 1834 | Safed | Arab rioters | unknown | Reports detail torture and mass-rape of Jewish population[5] | ||||||
Aleppo Massacre | 1850 | Aleppo | Muslim rioters | 5,000[6] | Attacks on Christian neighborhoods in Aleppo | ||||||
1860 Druze-Maronite massacre | July 9–11, 1860 | Damascus | Druze and Sunni Muslim paramilitary groups | 25,000[7] | Organized pogroms against Maronite Christians; 326 villages, 560 churches, 28 colleges, 42 convents, and 9 other religious establishments were completely destroyed | Tafas massacre | 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. |
The Turks' conquest of the city in 1517, was marked by a violent pogrom of murder, rape, and plunder of Jewish homes. The surviving Jews fled to Beirut, not to return until 1533.
The demographic data noted here must also be examined against the background of outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence shortly after the Ottoman conquest that caused many of Safed's Jews to flee the city in early 1517.
During a ferocious onslaught of three hours, Ibrahim Pasha allowed his troops to slaughter Muslims, plunder the population, and defile the women. When Muslims sought safety in the Jewish quarter of Hebron, the soldiers pursued them, indiscriminately killing and looting all in their path.
However, the insurrection soon lost its original purpose and turned into bloody rioting and excesses directed against the Jewish population. Arab villagers joined with the townspeople to attack the Jews, raping, looting and destroying synagogues. The rioting was most severe in Safed, where assaults and vandalism forced many Jews to flee to safety amount the friendly Arabs of the nearby village of Ein Zetim. Others were afraid to remain in the remote area and decided to relocate to Jerusalem. During the course of the disturbances, some 500 Torah scrolls were destroyed in Safed alone. The rioting continued for thirty-three days, until a contingent of Druse troops from Ibrahim's army arrived to restore order. The governor of Safed and thirteen of the ringleaders were taken captive, summarily tried, and put to death.