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Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian civil war

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It has been suggested that Anti-Alawite Sentiment in the 2011-2012 Syrian Uprising be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2012.

Sectarianism has been described as a characteristic of the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising. The opposition is dominated by Sunni Muslims, whereas the leading government figures are Alawite Shiite Muslims. Assad reportedly is supported by most Alawites and many Christians in the country.

Such sentiments of sectarianism amongst the Sunni population have been said to be rooted in that both Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad are Alawites, a minority many Sunnis see as heretics, and who are placed in the majority of cabinet and government positions. Additionally, the Syrian government allegedly maintains a gang-network known as the Shabeeha, smugglers and drug dealers hired as a shadow militia, whose members primarily consist of Alawites.

Sectarianism

At the uprising's outset, some protesters reportedly chanted "Christians to Beirut; Alawites to the coffin". The opposition accused the regime of agitating sectarianism.

Some commanders of the Free Syrian Army indicated that this is a religious Islamic struggle against a secular regime, one of them claimed that:"For the first time, we are able to proclaim the word of God throughout this land."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the primarily Sunni protesters "have a lot of work to do internally" in order to gain the broad public support needed to form a genuinely national movement, and "it is not yet accepted by many groups within Syria that their life will be better without Assad than with Assad. There are a lot of minority groups that are very concerned." The opposition does include some prominent Alawites and Christians.

Christians

Christians and other minorities had been nominally protected under Assad's 1973 constitution, which guaranteed religious freedom. Some may fear that they will suffer the same consequences as the Christians of Iraq and Egypt if the government is overthrown.

Most protests have taken place after Muslim Friday prayer, and the Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo told the Lebanon-based Daily Star, "To be honest, everybody's worried, we don’t want what happened in Iraq to happen in Syria. We don't want the country to be divided. And we don't want Christians to leave Syria."

Christians were present in early demonstrations in Homs but have to abandoned them when Salafi slogans were proclaimed.

According to International Christian Concern, Christians were attacked by anti-government protesters in mid-2011 for not joining the then-burgeoning protests.

According to a CBS News report, Christians are largely in favour of Assad and think that their survival is linked to his governement. However, in late February 2012, the neoconservative Stonegate Institute quoted Syrian Christians as saying their community had been persecuted by the government during the uprising and Christian leaders were forced to voice allegiance to Assad under threat of violence.

Alawites

Following the development of the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising, Alawites in Syria have been subject to a series of growing threats and attacks coming from Sunni Muslims, who are the majority of the Syrian population. Alawites in Syria are a minority, which account for around 12% on the 23 millions residents in Syria. Members of the Alawite sect are afraid of Sunni hegemony, as they were oppressed by Sunnis during Ottoman times and in the early years of the 20th century, the Sunni merchant class held much of the country's wealth and dominated politics, while Alawites generally lived as poor peasants. Following Hafez al-Assad coup, their position in the society improved and they achieved equality of rights due to a secular regime. In the 1980's, the Islamic uprising in Syria happened and Alawites were the main target of the Muslim Brotherhood, an influent Islamist party.

Anti Alawites statements from Syrian opposition members

A Syrian opposition member said privately that all Alawites men were murderers.

A Syrian cleric living in exile in Saudi Arabia said that they would feed Alawites to the dogs if they seize power.

Mamoun al-Homsy, one of the opposition leader, told that Alawites should stop support the government, or Syria would become their graveyard.

Mohamed Bazzi said tha many of the jihadists elements in the Syrian opposition viewed the Shia as heretics and the Alawites as even more heretic.

Anti Alawites attacks and threats

Ali, a dentist student asked by Reuters, told that he was being insulted daily by Sunnis because he was an Alawite living in a neighbourhood which has a sunni majority. He had to leave his house because of death threats. He said his uncle had been killed in a sectarian murder, his body was cut in parts and sent back to his alawite village.

Mahmoud, another student of Damascus, said that if the current secular government felt, he would have to leave Syria or be killed. In his childhood village Rabia, located near the sunni city of Hama, he said that 39 Alawites villagers had been killed by sunnis and told that if an Alawite leave his village, he is stopped at checkpoints and killed by sunnis if they identify him as an Alawite.

Due to the widespread threats, a lot of Alawites are reportedly hiding their identity, trying to hide their accent and their names.

In the city of Homs, the main hub of the Syrian uprising, Alawites were allegedly targeted by sunni rebels, being abducted or killed.

Issa Abboud, a 60 year old man, was killed in Homs while he was loading his car to flee his quarter. A young alawite was shot in the stomach during the attack, while a third was abducted. A few day before, another Alawite, Shadi Tammour, relative to them had been kidnapped in Homs.

Turkish Alawites fear it will be "a river of blood" for Alawites if Assad leaves. A number of Turkish Alawites are so worried that they started to highjack ambulances near the border to try to disrupt weapons smuggling to syrian rebels.

Reuters investigated the mood and the condition of the Alawite community. Ordinary Alawites said that they have been threatened during the uprising for their religion and that they fear giving their names in cities where Sunnis are the majority. An Alawi originally from Rabia, near Homs, stated that if an Alawi leaves his village, he is attacked and killed. A Syrian opposition member said privately that all Alawites men were murderers. A Syrian cleric living in exile in Saudi Arabia said that they would feed Alawites to the dogs if they seize power. The events that started in March 2011 seems to have reinforced support for Bashar al-Assad and the government among ordinary Alawites, according to the Reuters investigation. Chants for Bashar's brother Maher al-Assad called for him to finish off the rebels. They were also convinced that if Assad fell, they would be killed or exiled. They added that before Hafez coup, they were treated as second class citizen and were not allowed proper education. However, there are also Alawite activists opposed to Assad but the group asked by Reuters dismissed them as isolated. Many are fleeing their homes in fear of getting killed.

Sunnis

The areas that have fallen under rebels control are mostly Sunni. Shabeeha have been known to carry out killings of Sunnis, prompting kidnappings and killing of Alawites by the Sunni side. In some cases, the killing of Alawites is unprovoked and stems from regular sectarian hatred of an Alawite hegemony.

On 26 January 2012, 14 members of a Sunni family were killed in the mixed Karm al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Homs by the Shabeeha, who entered the district after loyalist had fired heavy mortar rounds on the district. 16 other people were also killed. A local doctor said that Alawites who remained in the area had left four days previously and that it was rumoured this was on the order of the Syrian authorities.

References

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