Washington Post: BEIRUT — Rumblings of discontent within Syria’s Alawite minority are presenting a new challenge to President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to retain power in the face of an expanding armed rebellion, calling into question the loyalties even of his own sect in the conflict ravaging the country.
Assad has increasingly come to rely on the 2.5 million-strong Alawite community for support as Syria’s Sunni majority has flocked to join the rebellion, sharpening the sectarian dimensions of an uprising that began as a largely spontaneous quest for greater freedoms inspired by the revolts sweeping the Arab world.
‘Sectarian tensions’ gives a wrong impression to the general reader. Living in Iraq (on and off) for nearly ten years I found that yes, there may be tensions between Shias and Sunnis, however, these are not really religious in content. It is a question of power, power held by this community or that. The same goes for Iran and Saudi Arabia. If Iran was to become Sunni but still would not like to be politically ‘sub-serviant’ to the Saudi Kingdom, nothing would really change. The Saudis say they do not like the Iranians because they are Shias, but actually they do not like them because they are not obedient servants. Similarly another community would like to be in power now. That the ruling family happens to be Alawite is just a ‘side-effect’. (hope you get my point)…