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2011-04-26 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

25 Dead in Crackdown on Syria's Daraa, Europe Seeks U.N. Condemnation of Violence

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Posted by Fred 2011-04-26 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Syria

#1 A double secret probation.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-04-26 02:03|| 2011-04-26 02:03|| Front Page Top

#2 Wikipedia on Hafez al Assad's ascension to power:

In 1970, then-Air Force General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, took power and instigated a "Correctionist Movement" in the Ba'ath Party.[29] His coming to power has been compared to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia â an unprecedented development shocking to the majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[26]

The following Wikipedia background may provide clues as to why Iran is Syria's natural ally, as long as it remains under Alawite rule, regardless of the fact that Syria is secular, whereas Iran is theocratic:

Alawis are self-described Shi'i Muslims, and have been called Shia by other sources[8][9] including the highly influential Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr of Lebanon.[31] On the other hand, conservative Sunnis do not always recognize Alawi as Muslims.[1] At least one source has compared them to Baha'is, Babis, Bektashis, Ahmadis, and "similar groups that have arisen within the Muslim community", and declared that "it has always been the consensus of the Muslim Ulama, both Sunni and Shi'i, that the Nusayri Alawi are kuffar unbelievers and mushrikun polytheists."

The problem for Alawites is that defeat could mean marginalization and exile at best, or large scale massacres and exile for the survivors at worst. Not the ideal outcome for a people who are thought to be descended from the original Hittite inhabitants of the area, as opposed to the Sunni Arab usurpers of their land:

Professor Felix von Luschan (1911), according to his conclusions from anthropometric measurements, makes the Druze, Maronites, and Alawites, together with the Armenians, Bektashis, âAli-Ilahis, and Yezidis of Asia Minor and Persia, the modern representatives of the ancient Hittites.[22]

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-04-26 10:08|| 2011-04-26 10:08|| Front Page Top

#3 Lock the doors, let them fight it out. Then shoot the winner.

Posted by mojo 2011-04-26 17:03|| 2011-04-26 17:03|| Front Page Top

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