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Alawites [b] are an Arab ethnoreligious group [17] who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism. [18] A sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ghulat branch during the ninth century, [19] [20] [21] Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "first Imam" in the Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence.
After the Islamist uprising in Syria, the Assad regime carefully ensured the dominance of Alawites in all factors of the Syrian government. [2] Despite increased Sunni-Alawite tensions, Syria remained stable until the Syrian civil war. [2] During the Syrian civil war, the Assad regime deployed mostly Alawite soldiers, and also conscripted Alawites.
In the final days leading to his ouster, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad complained to Iran's foreign minister that Turkey was actively supporting Sunni rebels in their offensive to topple him ...
Bashar al-Assad was born in Damascus on 11 September 1965, as the second son and third child of Anisa Makhlouf and Hafez al-Assad. [ 19 ] " al-Assad " in Arabic means " the lion ". Assad's paternal grandfather, Ali al-Assad , had managed to change his status from peasant to minor notable and, to reflect this, in 1927 he had changed the family ...
Although the country of Jordan is 95% Sunni and has not seen any Shia–Sunni fighting within, it has played a part in the recent Shia-Sunni strife. It is the home country of anti-Shia insurgent Raed Mansour al-Banna, who died perpetrating one of Iraq's worst suicide bombings in the city of Al-Hillah.
Both the opposition and government have accused each other of employing sectarian agitation. The opposition accused the government of agitating sectarianism. [20] Invoking minority sentiments and fears had long been a key policy of the Assads to ensure the regime's support amongst disenchanted Alawites.The regime dispatched the most loyal of the Alawite army units to fiercely crush the biggest ...
Islam is the most practiced religion in Turkey. Most Turkish Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. The established presence of Islam in the region that now constitutes modern Turkey dates back to the later half of the 11th century, when the Seljuks started expanding into eastern Anatolia. [2]
President for 24 years, Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination early on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters. Rebels declared the city "free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad".