EFTA01073907Set 9
2011-05-1234p9,533w
forces of President Bashar al-Assad, who
comes from the country's Alawi minority, is much more menacing
than the generally peaceful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, from
which ... northern city of Homs and some suburbs of
Damascus.* With the Alawi-dominated regime under threat, the
EFTA01073930
25
struggle is showing ominous sectarian overtones. At Baniyas, where
the army ... into the city's
southern outskirts, paramilitary groups were said to have massed in
Alawi-populated northern suburbs. The city centers of Damascus and
Aleppo, however, remained relatively quiet
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01073907.pdf
EFTA02689709Set 11
2011-06-1026p7,222w
real problem in Syria. The
ruling family was born into the historically oppressed Alawi
community. The Ottomans regarded Alawis as heretics rather than as
"people of the book," and Alawis ... rights. Before the rise of the Baath and the social revolution it
presided over, Alawi girls served as housemaids in Sunni cities.
Some Alawis fear those times are returning ... today. Sunni
business families have been co-opted into the power structure while
disfavored Alawis have suffered as much as anyone else. The
protesters, aware of the dangers, have consistently
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02689709.pdf
EFTA00647214Set 9
2012-07-0218p6,204w
percent Sunni, its military, police and
intelligence services are led mainly by Alawis, a Shia sub-sect, as is the
ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party. Such disjunction also exists ... with assistance of
the Iranian ambassador in Damascus.
Around the hard core of the Alawi support for the Assad regime are the
Christians, 10 percent, and equally numerous Ismailis, Druzes ... political establishment hold their own Alevi minority.
Turkey's Alevis, akin to the Alawis in Syria, form up to 15 percent of the
population, and are victims of widespread discrimination
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00647214.pdf
EFTA00589245Set 9
2011-04-2634p9,358w
Islam." Most Islamic
scholars, on the other hand, have long regarded the esoteric Alawi
sect as heretical.
Iran and Syria also share an interest in Lebanon. Syrian despots have
always ... matter if an Arab man or woman is a Sunni or
a Shil, an Alawi, an Ismaili or a Derzi, a Christian or a Muslim?
Political and religious authorities across
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00589245.pdf
EFTA00660802Set 9
2012-01-2429p10,490w
rule of Hafez Assad.
France recruited heavily among the minorities—the Druze, the Alawis, the
Ismailis—for its colonial levies, the Troupes Speciales du Levant. The
Sunni townsmen disdained ... avoided military service, thought it the
work of lessers. For the Alawis in their secluded, impoverished mountains,
the Jabal Ansariya, in the northwest, military service was salvation. Born
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00660802.pdf