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Source: http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/259hbbtw.asp
All About the Alawites
(Weekly Standard) Lee Smith - "The presence of U.S. forces in the region and the pressure brought to bear on the Syrian regime has begun to create a new political climate," says Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian writer and rights activist. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad seems to understand this, which is why he is fighting back. Like Iraq's former Sunni-dominated regime, Syria's ruling cadre is made up of a minority, the Alawites, adherents of a variation of Shia Islam. The idea that Syria's Sunnis might soon put two and two together terrifies the Alawite regime.