The Houla massacre was an attack that took place on May 25, 2012, in the midst of the Syrian Uprising, in two opposition-controlled villages in the Houla Region of Syria, a cluster of villages north of Homs. According to the United Nations (U.N.), 108 people were killed, including 34 women and 49 children. While a small proportion of the deaths appeared to have resulted from artillery and tank rounds used against the villages, the U.N. later announced that most of the massacre's victims had been "summarily executed in two separate incidents", and that pro-government militias known as Shabiha were the most likely perpetrators.

The Syrian government alleged that Al-Qaeda terrorist groups were responsible for the killings, while Houla residents and opposition groups alleged that the Syrian military and government-hired militias known as Shabiha were the perpetrators. Townspeople described how Shia and Alawite Shabiha, men from Shia/Alawite villages to the south and west of Houla (Kabu and Felleh were named repeatedly) entered the town after shelling of the ground for several hours. According to one eyewitness, the killers had written Shia slogans on their foreheads.

The Houla Region or Houla Plain (Arabic: الحولة‎ al-Ḥūlāh) is made up of several villages in the Syrian Homs Governorate, north of the city of Homs.

One of the villages, Taldou, (alternatively spelt "Teldo", "Taldau", "Taldo", "Taldaw", "Taldao") is located in the outskirts of Houla. The biggest town in the Houla Region has about 38,000 inhabitants and is called Houla or Kafr Laha, (Arabic: كفرلاها‎).^{[citation needed]}

In May 2012, the two villages Taldou and al-Shoumarieh were the location of a major massacre of civilians and continued fighting between the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian military.

Coordinates: 34°53′7″N 36°30′42″E / 34.88528°N 36.51167°E / 34.88528; 36.51167