Tafas massacre

The Tafas Massacre refers to the slaughter of civilians in the Syrian town of Tafas following the retreat of the Ottoman Army in an attempt to demoralize the enemy.

Background
Nearing the end of World War One in the fall of 1918, the retreating Ottoman Army executed roughly 250 citizens of Tafas in an attempt to demoralize the British forces in pursuit of the Turkish army. The British commander; T. E. Lawrence arrived in the area following the massacre and witnessed bodies mutilated and the majority of the town in ruins. Lawrence retaliated by pursuing and attacking the retreating Turkish columns which had approximately 2,500 soldiers and capturing an estimated 250 soldiers with both Austrian and German ethnicity.