Today, a Tribute to the Besieged Syrians in Homs and Hama

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2011

ISRAEL'S HISTORY - A PICTURE A DAY

Ancient noria (water wheel) in Hama on the
Orontes River

The American Colony photographers were based in Jerusalem for the 60 years of their photographic enterprise.  But they traveled throughout the Middle East, and their photographs of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria are also located in the Library of Congress today. 

Hama, note the camel
caravan at the bottom of
the picture

Homs, circa 1900

We present today several photographs taken 100 years ago in Homs, Syria's third largest city, and in Hama, Syria's fourth largest.


Homs, Khalid ibn Al-Walid Mosque

Hama was the site of the infamous Hama massacre in 1982 where an estimated 34,000 Syrians were killed by forces commanded by President Hafez Assad and his brother Rifaat -- the brother and uncle of today's leader of Syria, Bashar Assad.

Today, the cities of Homs and Hama are bearing the brunt of the vicious repression taking place in Syria.