The Jisr al-Shughour massacre of 1980 occurred in Syria on 9 March 1980, when helicopter borne Syrian troops were sent into Jisr ash-Shugur, a town between Aleppo and Latakia, to quell demonstrators, who had recently ransacked barracks and party offices in town. A ferocious search and destroy mission ensued that left some two hundred dead, while scores of prisoners were ordered executed in field tribunals.