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The Assad regime had attempted to supplant the Alawite religious identity. Bashar al-Assad attempted to integrate Alawites into Sunni Islam as to alleviate Sunni opposition to his rule, while Hafez al-Assad entirely dismissed the Alawite faith as simply Twelver Shi'ism. Alawites insisted that they were a distinct Islamic sect, while accusing ...
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.
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's strategy of importing Iran-backed Shia fundamentalists engaged in regional conflict with Sunni-majority countries and his portrayal as being the sole defender of Alawite interests from the Syrian Sunni majority; led to the transformation of the conflict into a sectarian war by late 2013. [12]
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".
Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunni Muslims forming about 85-90%, [12] and Shia-Aleviler (Alevis, Alawites, and Ja'faris) denominations in total form up to 10% of the Muslim population. [12] [13] Among Shia Muslim presence in Turkey there is a small but considerable minority of Muslims with Ismaili heritage and affiliation. [14]
The Consultative Gathering, a group of Shia and Sunni leaders in Baalbek-Hermel, also called on Hezbollah not to "interfere" in Syria. They said, "Opening a front against the Syrian people and dragging Lebanon to war with the Syrian people is very dangerous and will have a negative impact on the relations between the two."
On the other hand, Al-Assad "declared the Alawites to be nothing but Twelver Shiites". [122] In a paper, "Islamic Education in Syria", Landis wrote that "no mention" is made in Syrian textbooks (controlled by the Al-Assad regime) of Alawites, Druze, Ismailis or Shia Islam; Islam was presented as a monolithic religion. [123]