40 Years On, Hama Survivors Recall Horror Of Assad-era Massacre

Hayan Hadid (centre) survived the 1982 Hama massacre (Credit: AFP)

Hayan Hadid was 18 when soldiers arrested him in his pyjamas and took him for execution in Syria's Hama in 1982, during one of the darkest chapters of the Assad clan's rule.

"I've never really talked about that, it was a secret. Only my family knew," said Hadid, now a father of five.